China's environmental authority has ordered the makers of fantasy epic "The Promise" be penalized over damage to a pristine scenic area in the country's southwest.

Chinese director Chen Kaige poses during a photocall to present his competition film 'The Promise' at the 56th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin February 12, 2006. China will fine the crew of the country's most expensive movie, 'The Promise' by Kaige, for damaging the environment in an area of outstanding natural beauty, state media said on Wednesday. [Reuters]

Makers of the film by famed director Chen Kaige never applied to environmental agencies for permission to film at Yunnan province's Bigu pond, the State Environmental Protection Administration said.

"The filming activities caused significant damage to the local natural ecology," the administration said in a notice viewed Wednesday on its Web site. Bigu pond is located within the Three Parallel Rivers protected area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The statement, dated Tuesday, didn't specify how the producers would be penalized, but ordered that they fully restore the damaged area and submit a public report.

There was no immediate comment from the makers of the film, funded by a consortium of Chinese and overseas production houses and co-produced by Chen Kaige's wife Chen Hong.

An official at the Environmental Protection Administration's publicity department who refused to give his name said he had no additional information on the case. Officials from the environmental protection bureaus in Yunnan's capital Kunming and Zhongdian county where Bigu pond is located said they were not authorized to comment.

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