Power supply and coal reserves continued to resume in China on
Monday, while the government has been exerting efforts to maintain
price stability after a worst-in-decades snow snarl.
A total of 22.12 million households, or 93.1 percent of those
deprived of power during the snow storm, had regained access to
electricity by Monday, said the Disaster Relief and Emergency
Command Center under the State Council on Monday night.
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Reserves of coal for power generation increased 800,000 tons to
23.1 million tons on Sunday, equaling 12 days' supply for the
country's power plants, said the command center.
It said in a statement that government departments had beefed up
coal transportation as coal shipments from north China's four major
ports hit a record high of 1.42 million tons on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the average wholesale price of vegetables on Monday
fell for the third day consecutively, down 0.3 percent from Sunday,
but prices of most vegetables rose in the provinces of Hunan, Anhui
and Sichuan, all severely hit by the cold chill, according to the
command center.
Figures from the Ministry of Commerce showed egg, beef and
mutton prices saw a small drop while prices of edible oil and
small-packages of rice went up slightly on Monday.
The command center said market prices were basically stable,
urging disaster-hit areas to resume vegetable production and
increase supply as soon as possible.
"Snow and ice have caused heavy losses to agriculture,
especially vegetable production, in some regions," it said.
The command center required local governments to expand the
planting area of vegetables in the south for supplying the north
and increase vegetable production in green houses.
Transport departments have rushed food to snow-hit regions to
ensure supply and keep prices stable during the ongoing holiday
week to celebrate the Spring Festival, the most important
traditional festival in China.
From Jan. 25 to Sunday, railways shipped 113,000 cars of food
like grains, vegetables and fruits to disaster-hit regions, said
the command center.
China's transport systems are only just creaking back to life
after freak cold and ice storms hit swathes of the country since
mid-January, causing billions of dollars in damage and killing at
least 80 people.
A total of 340,000 armed policemen had been dispatched to help
disaster relief work across the country by 5 p.m. Monday, while
6.56 million stranded passengers and disaster-hit residents had
been rescued by Monday, said the command center.
The National Development and Reform Commission said Monday it
had allocated an urgent assistance fund of 45 million yuan on
Saturday for emergency repair of water supply equipment and power
networks in regions badly beaten by the freezing weather, including
Chongqing, Yunnan, Zhejiang and Jiangsu.
A total assistance fund of 205 million yuan had been put into
reconstruction in disaster-hit areas as of Saturday, said the
commission.
(Xinhua News Agency February 12, 2008)