On July 15, four state bodies jointly ordered a
halt to the construction of 32 power stations, 10 and 11 of which
are in Henan
Province and Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region respectively, because they do not
meet environmental and other national standards.
The National Development and Reform Commission
(NDRC), the State
Environmental Protection Administration and the ministries of
land
and resources and water resources
announced that problems with the plants included illegally drawing
groundwater.
The NDRC said these projects breached rules and
regulations concerning land requisition, environmental protection,
and water and soil preservation, so could not be included in the
country’s short-term power development planning.
With a total planned capacity of 17.114 million
kilowatts, the power stations required investment of 85.5 billion
yuan (US$10.5 billion), with 20 billion yuan (US$2.46 billion)
already spent.
“Letting their construction continue would not only
adversely affect the development of the power industry, but would
also bring about risks to the financial sector, influencing
sustainable economic development,” said an NDRC official.
In February, the General Office of the State Council
called on government departments to put a stop to the building of
illegal power stations, saying that they would “disturb
implementation of the state’s overall energy strategy, causing
chaotic power construction and contradictions between coal supply
and limited transportation capacity.”
At that time, according to the NDRC, illegal power
station projects had a total capacity of 125 million kilowatts.
They had no approval for their feasibility reports, had not applied
for examination or approval, or had not suspended construction
after being instructed to previously.
The NDRC said all the stations should stop
construction and planning immediately and local departments take up
their responsibilities in dealing with any remaining problems.
Power plant projects have become attractive to many
localities as a source of inward investment. Along with an increase
in demand for electricity, this has encouraged their construction
even when regulations have not been met.
(China Business News translated by Zhang
Tingting for China.org.cn, July 28, 2005)