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China earmarks 3b yuan to improve coal mine safety
www.chinanews.cn 2005-03-05 10:36:34
(Source: Xinhuanet)
BEIJING, March 5 - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said here Saturday that the
government will spend this year 3 billion yuan (361 million US dollars)
on "safety technologies upgrading" at state-owned coal mines to "truly
make coal mining safer".
"We must have a strong sense of responsibility to the people and truly
make coal mining safer," said Wen while reporting his government's work
in the past year to the country's top legislature, the National People's
Congress (NPC), which convened its annual full session in Beijing
Saturday morning.
Acknowledging that "many catastrophic accidents" causing "heavyloss of
life and property" had occurred in China since last year, the premier
said, "We must draw on the bitter lesson they taught us and adopt still
more effective measures to improve our work to ensure production safety."
The premier linked the production safety issue with the maintenance of
social stability and the building of a "harmonious society" in China,
something the country's top leaders are most concerned about.
"At present, we should give top priority to coal mining safety," Wen
stressed.
Measures that need to be taken include "improving the systems and
mechanisms for ensuring coal mining safety", "investing more in coal
mining safety facilities" and "improving coal mining safety technology",
said Wen, adding that "local governments and coal mines must also invest
more in coal mining safety".
Statistics from the State General Administration of Work Safetyshowed
that throughout 2004 a total of 6,027 people were killed in3,639 coal
mine accidents.
China's state-owned coal mines, which used to have a comparatively better
safety record than private mines, have been hit by a string of disasters
since the latter half of last year. Three major gas explosions at the
Daping Mine of central China's Henan Province, Chen Jiashan Mine of
northwest China's Shaanxi Province and Sun Jiawan Mine of northeast
China's Liaoning Province, which took place in October and November of
last year and in February this year respectively, claimed 148, 166 and
214 lives respectively.
In recent years, a severe energy strain caused by China's rapideconomic
growth has prompted coal mines across the country to produce beyond their
actual mining capacity, largely neglecting the miners' safety
requirements.
Meanwhile, industry insiders revealed that the safety facilities in many
mines were also seriously outdated and worn-out.It will cost at least 50
billion yuan (6 billion dollars) to make a comprehensive upgrading of
safety facilities in the state-owned mines alone, they said.
A Beijing-based mining safety expert told Xinhua Saturday that he
believes the 3-billion-yuan state funds will mainly be used to resolve
the problem of coal bed gas, as gas explosion has turned out to be the
"top killer" in Chinese coal mines.
Apart from renovating and upgrading gas alarm systems and improving
underground ventilation facilities at coal mines, the money might also be
spent on the research to use coal bed gas as anew energy, said the expert.
E-mail: zhangqinghua@chinanews.com.cn Tel: 8610-88387443 Fax:
8610-68327649
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