China's 127 major cities plan to ban cement mixing at construction sites in an effort to protect the environment and reduce energy consumption, the Ministry of Commerce announced on Wednesday.

Ten cities, namely Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Zhenzhou, Dalian, Shenzhen, Changzhou and Huludao, will begin carrying out the plan from September 1. The other 117 cities will start over the following two years.

Jiang Zengwei, vice minister of the MOC, said the country will phase out bag-packed cement for concrete mixers by promoting the production and use of bulk cement and dried mortar, which can be directly used as building materials when only mixed with water. The move will improve energy efficiency and reduce pollution and noises in the cities, he said.

In most of the country's cities, concrete mixers are used at construction sites to make concrete by mixing cement, sand and water, which creates large amounts of dust pollution and wastes resources.

Preliminary estimates show 8.07 million tons of standard coal were saved and there was a reduction of 1.85 million tons of dust and 26.8 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2006 by promoting the use of bulk cement.

The ministry said the bulk cement was expected to account for 55 percent of the country's total cement consumption in 2010, compared with nearly 40 percent in 2006.

The government has set the target of reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent between 2006 and 2010.