Authorities in cities across northern, northwestern and
northeastern China plus Shandong
and Henan
provinces are struggling to secure enough fuel to provide
sufficient winter heating for residents as temperatures continue to
plummet.
Although most Beijingers will start to enjoy heating systems
being turned on from today, the situation is not quite so
comfortable in many other?cities, which are less prepared for
the situation.
Inadequate storage of coal for heating has become a common
phenomenon across the above?areas of China, threatening
heating supplies to 200 million urban residents in 14 provinces and
regions, whose main source of heating is coal.
In Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang
Province, storage accounts for only 65 percent of total winter
consumption needs, lower than the 70 percent threshold set by city
authorities, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
And in Jilin
Province, the figure is just 40 percent, while in previous
years 80 percent of the total coal consumption had been ready at
the same time of the year. In Beijing, storage of coal is less than
50 percent of entire winter consumption needs.
As the world's leading coal producer, China's output was 1.285
billion tons in the first 10 months of this year, a year-on-year
growth of 16 percent, but this still falls short of the demands of
a booming economy.
Jia Yinsong, an economist at the National Development and Reform
Commission, said on Saturday that China is still in urgent need of
energy and transport, despite both having grown rapidly.
The huge demand for more fuel has put immense pressure on
production, which is already crippled by insufficient safety
standards; last year China produced 35 percent of the world's coal,
but reported 80 percent of deaths in coalmine accidents, according
to the State Administration of Work Safety. The death rate for
every 100 tons of coal produced was 100 times that in the United
States and 30 times South Africa's.
This means that coal mining has become the most dangerous job in
China. In the past month alone, there has been a series of
accidents resulting in over 200 deaths.
(China Daily, Xinhua News Agency November 15, 2004)