China's Railway Ministry issued an urgent announcement on Monday
ordering all local railway bureaus to step up concentrated efforts
in coal transport to ensure the operation of the nation's key
electric power plants.
It warned the shutting of some coal mines during
the Spring Festival, which falls next month, tended
to exacerbate supply tensions in the dry season when hydropower
output declines.
Thermal power plants also consume large quantities of coal,
reducing the stock sharply. To ensure fuel supply during the
upcoming Lunar New Year and the National People's Congress session, the
ministry said policies would favor coal transport.
Coal heading for power plants in the country's economic hubs --
the eastern and central regions -- would be transported first. In
addition, the Ministry of Communications asked shipping companies
to halt exports and transfer coal more swiftly to the big
cities.
China is heavily dependent on coal as it is considered an
affordable energy resource at a time when oil and natural gas
prices rise steadily in the international market. The country
currently faces a 69.63 million kilowatt electricity supply
shortfall.
At present, 13 power grids at the provincial level have been
temporarily switched off to limit power usage. Railway transport
has also been disrupted by the inclement weather of late.
Unusually heavy snowfalls have hit large parts of the country
since mid-January, leaving homes collapsed, power blackouts,
highways closed and crops destroyed. Weather forecasts this morning
said snow was falling on Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Zhejiang, Anhui and
Jiangsu provinces. Many of them supply large migrant populations
that come to work in the country's biggest cities.
(Xinhua News Agency January 28, 2008)
