China is expected to meet its pollution control targets for the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-10), but challenges will be "fairly arduous" in the next development period, Minister of Environmental Protection Zhou Shengxian said on December 21.

Zhou said the sulfur dioxide index is expected to drop 14 percent in 2010 compared with 2005. Also, the index of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), a measure of water pollution, is expected to decrease 12 percent.

The 11th Five-Year Plan commits to reducing COD and sulfur dioxide levels by 10 percent during its implementation.

Besides sulfur dioxide and COD, Zhou said, the levels of ammoniacal nitrogen and nitrogen oxides, both major air and water pollutants, kept increasing. He said pollution from motor vehicles and agriculture was becoming more obvious.