China's Environmental agency on Monday urged localities to speed up building pollution treatment projects along the country's most heavily-polluted rivers and lakes, saying that the construction pace was far behind what had been planned.

In a circular, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) said that quite a number of such projects along the Huaihe, Haihe and Liaohe rivers and around the Taihu, Chaohu and Dianchi lakes, which should have been completed by the end of the year, had not even started.

"If current pace continues, only 76 percent, 55 percent and 52 percent of the planned projects along the Huaihe, Haihe and Liaohe rivers could have been finished, respectively, by the end of the year," noted the circular.

And only 87 percent, 59 percent and 52 percent of the projects around the Taihu, Chaohu and Dianchi lakes were expected to complete by the year's end, according to the circular.

All the projects were required by the country's Tenth Five Year Plan (2001-2005) to tackle pollution problems along the above-mentioned rivers and lakes, which rank top among the country's pollution list.

Moreover, the situation was no better along China's ambitious project of diverting water from the south to the north and around the Three Gorges Dam area, said SEPA.

By the end of April this year, 40 out of the 257 pollution treatment facilities planned for the water diversion project had not broken ground, and only 69 percent of the anti-pollution projects around the Three Gorges Dam area could have been finished by the end of the year, according to the circular.

SEPA urged localities to kick off the construction of all the remaining projects by the end of 2005, otherwise, their names would be made public by the media, it warned.

China has put high on its agenda the issue of tackling water pollution which has not only hindered its economic development but also possibly caused social unrest in some areas.