Construction | CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

05/05/2013

* Plans to Harness China’s Nu River Threaten a Region

NY Times: “From its crystalline beginnings as a rivulet seeping from a glacier on the Tibetan Himalayas to its broad, muddy amble through the jungles of Myanmar, the Nu River is one of Asia’s wildest waterways, its 1,700-mile course unimpeded as it rolls toward the Andaman Sea.

The Nu River at Bingzhongluo, China. The government stunned environmentalists by reviving plans to build dams on the river. More Photos »

But the Nu’s days as one of the region’s last free-flowing rivers are dwindling. The Chinese government stunned environmentalists this year by reviving plans to build a series of hydropower dams on the upper reaches of the Nu, the heart of a Unesco World Heritage site in China’s southwest Yunnan Province that ranks among the world’s most ecologically diverse and fragile places.

Critics say the project will force the relocation of tens of thousands of ethnic minorities in the highlands of Yunnan and destroy the spawning grounds for a score of endangered fish species. Geologists warn that constructing the dams in a seismically active region could threaten those living downstream. Next month, Unesco is scheduled to discuss whether to include the area on its list of endangered places.

Among the biggest losers could be the millions of farmers and fishermen across the border in Myanmar and Thailand who depend on the Salween, as the river is called in Southeast Asia, for their sustenance. “We’re talking about a cascade of dams that will fundamentally alter the ecosystems and resources for downstream communities that depend on the river,” said Katy Yan, China program coordinator at International Rivers, an advocacy group.

Suspended in 2004 by Wen Jiabao, then the prime minister, and officially resuscitated shortly before his retirement in March, the project is increasing long-simmering regional tensions over Beijing’s plans to dam or divert a number of rivers that flow from China to other thirsty nations in its quest to bolster economic growth and reduce the country’s dependency on coal.

According to its latest energy plan, the government aims to begin construction on about three dozen hydroelectric projects across the country, which together will have more than twice the hydropower capacity of the United States.

via Plans to Harness China’s Nu River Threaten a Region – NYTimes.com.

Member of the National Committee of CPPCC urges hydro development on the Nu River (journal.probeinternational.org)
China-backed dams escalating ethnic tension in Myanmar (eco-business.com)
Karen Communities Demand Halt to Salween River Dams (irrawaddy.org)
Bring China in on a rule-based Asian regional water order (dailystar.com.lb)
China’s great water wall (washingtontimes.com)
What happens when Asia’s ‘water tower’ dries up (eenews.net)

Posted in China alert, Construction, Economics, Electricity, energy, water scarcity | 1 Comment »

Tags: Asia, Burma, China, environment, Salween River, unesco world heritage, unesco world heritage site, Yunnan

16/04/2013

* Henan villagers ‘beaten up by hundreds of rail workers’ over land dispute

SCMP: “Villagers in central China’s Henan province who were protesting a land grab in Huangchuan county said they were beaten up by hundreds of employees from the China Railway 13th Bureau at the weekend.

The villagers were demonstrating against the bureau, which planned to build a new railway line. They said they were “indiscriminately” attacked on Sunday morning by more than 300 uniformed construction workers with metre-long sticks, news portal Dahe.cn reported on Monday.

The protesters said the attackers spoke in northeastern Chinese accents and destroyed 30 mobile phones of those who had tried to film the incident. A villager’s car was also smashed up.

Police were called in but were “forced to turn back” by the 300 workers, the report said.

More than 10 people were injured and two were still in hospital on Monday.

The land dispute arose after villagers tried to prevent the bureau from acquiring the land for a new line for the Nanjing-Xian Railway. Villagers said the compensation offered to them was too low.

The China Railway 13th Bureau is a large state-owned construction enterprise and subsidiary of the China Railway Construction Corporation. Prior to 1948, it was part of the People’s Liberation Army Railway Corps No 3 Division.”

via Henan villagers ‘beaten up by hundreds of rail workers’ over land dispute | South China Morning Post.

China Railways – General (javmode.wordpress.com)
* China scraps railways ministry in streamlining drive (chindia-alert.org)
China ex-rail minister charged with graft (news.com.au)

Posted in China alert, Construction, Economics, Illegal practices, Infrastructure, land grab, railways, Rule of law, Transport | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, China Railway Construction Corporation, Henan, Trains and Railroads, transportation

14/04/2013

* Spike in land abuse cases in China’s western regions

China Daily: “Chinese authorities are drawing up new land support policies for western parts of the country, following a sharp spike in land abuse cases in the region during the first three months of the year.

In the first quarter, cases jumped 22.4 percent year-on-year, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Land and Resources on Friday.

“Due to the focus on development of the western regions, demand for land from infrastructure construction and investment is increasing sharply, putting pressure on land supply,” said Yue Xiaowu, deputy director of the ministry’s law enforcement and supervision administration.

“This means the western regions need policy support, which is what we are working on,” Yue said.

Last year, the ministry held an investigation into illegal land use cases in western regions, studying the reasons for the surge in numbers.

Yue said that besides the increased investment and infrastructure construction, the higher rural population had also caused a rise in abuse cases involving farmland.”

via Spike in land abuse cases in China’s western regions |Society |chinadaily.com.cn.

Posted in China alert, Construction, Economics, Housing, Illegal practices, Infrastructure, land grab, real estate | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, environment, politics, Xi JinPing

11/04/2013

* New Beijing airport targets 2018 opening

While London continues to debate expanding Heathrow or building a new airport, Beijing takes action. Sometimes politicians in the West use ‘democracy’ as an excuse for slow progress. But often it is due to simple lack of will and decisiveness.

China Daily: “Construction of a new airport in south Beijing will start next year, and the facility is expected to be completed and put into use in 2018, local authorities announced on Wednesday.

Beijing Capital International Airport (北京首都国际机场) (Photo credit: dbaron)

Preliminary work prior to the construction of the airport, located in Daxing district, bordering Hebei province, is under way, sources with the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform said.

They added that the airport will be linked with three expressways, including one that will be newly built along the southern central axis of Beijing.

Under-way discussions over an urban rail transit to connect the airport are likely to be finished within the year.

The new airport project was approved at the end of 2012, as part of efforts to spur the development of Beijing’s southern suburbs.

Meanwhile, an air transport-related economic zone is also planned, with an investment of 84 billion yuan ($13.39 billion).

Upon completion, the new airport is expected to ease traffic pressure on Beijing Capital International Airport, which remained the world’s second-busiest airport in 2012 in terms of passenger throughput. Its passenger volume reach 81.8 million last year, according to a statement published by the airport in January.

via New Beijing airport targets 2018 opening |Society |chinadaily.com.cn.

Beijing proposes world’s largest airport (wantchinatimes.com)
Amazing Aerial View of Beijing Airport,China.. (technoworldhit.wordpress.com)

Posted in China alert, Construction, Economics, Transport | 2 Comments »

Tags: aviation, Beijing, beijing airport, Beijing Capital International Airport, transportation, World's busiest airport

25/03/2013

* Behind China’s Switch to High-End Exports

WSJ: “As rising labor costs push manufacturing of T-shirts, jeans and the like out of China, the country has been able to offset that loss by grabbing the high end.

[image]

And nowhere is that on better display than the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

When the switch is flipped each night for the span’s two-year artistic light show, the electricity flows through sophisticated power devices made by Gary Hua’s factory not far from Shanghai.

In the six years since it was founded, his company has grown to 1,000 employees, who last year made three million power-supply units for high-efficiency light-emitting diodes. The company, Inventronics Inc., expects to double production this year and export more than half that output.

With labor costs increasing in China, the country is now shifting its manufacturing focus to high-tech exports such as computers and sophisticated power devices. Shaun Rein of China Markets Research tells the WSJ’s Jake Lee how Western countries are reacting.

* China’s Xi tells Africa he seeks relationship of equals

Reuters: “China’s new president told Africans on Monday he wanted a relationship of equals that would help the continent develop, responding to concerns that Beijing is only interested in shipping out its raw materials.

TANZANIA-DAR ES SALAAM-CHINA-XI JINPING-ARRIVAL

On the first stop on an African tour that will include a BRICS summit of major emerging economies, Xi Jinping told Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete that China’s involvement in Africa would help the continent grow richer.

“China sincerely hopes to see faster development in African countries and a better life for African people,” Xi said in a speech laying out China’s policy on Africa, delivered at a conference center in Dar es Salaam built with Chinese money.

Renewing an offer of $20 billion of loans to Africa between 2013 and 2015, Xi pledged to “help African countries turn resource endowment into development strength and achieve independent and sustainable development”.

Africans broadly see China as a healthy counterbalance to Western influence but, as ties mature, there are growing calls from policymakers and economists for a more balanced trade deal.

“China will continue to offer, as always, necessary assistance to Africa with no political strings attached,” Xi said to applause. “We get on well and treat each others as equals.”

But gratitude for that aid is increasingly tinged with resentment about the way Chinese companies operate in Africa where industrial complexes staffed exclusively by Chinese workers have occasionally provoked riots by locals looking for work.

Countering concerns that Africa is not benefitting from developing skills or technology from Chinese investment, Xi said China would train 30,000 African professionals, offer 18,000 scholarships to African students and “increase technology transfer and experience”.”

via China’s Xi tells Africa he seeks relationship of equals | Reuters.

Posted in BRICS, China alert, Construction, Diplomacy, economic inter-dependence, Economics, exports, Foreign acquisition, GeoPolitics, Import, Infrastructure, joint venture, Manufacturing, Natural resources, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: africa, Beijing, BRIC, China, Dar es Salaam, Jakaya Kikwete, Tanzania, Xi JinPing

20/01/2013

* China’s workforce peak demographics

Well reasoned analysis that goes behind and beyond headline figures – as expected from the EIU.

EIU: “China’s working age population is set to peak in 2013, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit‘s latest demographic projections. However the impact of this milestone on the country’s economy will be different from the experience of other, predominantly rich countries that have already undergone the process. While ageing, the country’s urban workforce will continue to grow. It will also become much better educated.

China Ageing Population

In the developed world, ageing is most commonly associated with shrinking workforces relative to the rest of the population, giving rise to pension cuts, postponed retirement and higher taxes on the young. As an economy still in transition, China need not fret about such issues. For a start, China’s state pension system is far from generous and its coverage low. Rather, the country’s biggest fear is that of worsening labour shortages—a phenomenon that was first reported in the mid–2000s and was subsequently the subject of much attention in the national media. There are two good reasons why these fears are overblown.

Rural fuel

First, China is still in the midst of a massive urbanisation drive. When the working-age populations of Germany and Japan, the world’s largest ageing economies, began to shrink in 1999 and 1995 respectively, the process of massive rural-to-urban migration had already matured. The proportion of the population residing in urban areas, or the urbanisation rate, had more or less stabilised at 73% and 65% respectively.

In contrast, China’s urbanisation rate will only reach 55% this year and is likely to continue rising by around one percentage point (or 13m people) every year, according to our projections. China will only reach Japan’s level of urbanisation by 2022 and Germany’s by 2030. Thus, even though China’s working-age population will shrink overall, the urban working-age population will only peak in 2029 after reaching 695m—135m higher than it was in 2012.

The flip side of this trend is a shrinking rural population. However, China’s rural population has been diminishing for three decades without much adverse impact on agricultural output. That is because its countryside is overpopulated: there are too many farmers working too little land. Indeed, China has even managed to boost agricultural output over the years by investing in machinery and technology.

It is difficult to pinpoint exactly how many more workers the agricultural sector can afford to lose before a large impact on farm output is felt. However, most economists agree that another 100m or so is achievable. Coupled with the fact that the primary sector only accounts for 10% of GDP, it becomes clear that, when it comes to maintaining economic growth, the urban workforce is really the only one that matters.

From factories to classrooms

Second, China’s labour shortages have largely been misdiagnosed. Much ink has been spilt attributing the lack of young workers for unfilled factory vacancies to demographic factors. Yet the number of Chinese aged 16–24 increased from 196m to 210m between 2000 and 2010. The rise in urban areas is even greater. Where, then, did all the young workers go? The answer is simple: they went to school.

The proportion of junior secondary school graduates continuing on to senior secondary school surged from 51% to 88% between 2000 and 2010. At the same time, the proportion of Chinese aged 16–19 that were either employed or seeking employment (the labour participation rate) fell from 57% to 34%. The relationship is clear: rising enrolment rates at schools have played a major role in postponing entry to the workforce.

The surge in school enrolment implies that the supply of young workers entering the job market will not only remain stable as China passes its demographic turning point, but might even grow. Enrolment rates cannot rise forever, and all the would–be teenage workers that were absorbed by the schooling system over the past decade will enter the workforce sooner or later.

As China’s youth becomes better educated, the coming decade will witness the emergence of a two-tiered workforce. One tier will consist of graduates looking for office jobs. The other will remain the country’s “traditional” source of labour: relatively low–skilled rural migrants seeking work in factories and construction yards. The latter group will, however, have aged substantially, creating new challenges for managers and HR departments across the country.

China’s workforce challenge is thus twofold: policymakers need to ensure that there are enough white-collar jobs for graduates, while employers of low-skilled workers will need to come to grips with hiring and managing an older workforce. Failure to do so will have serious consequences. An educated class disillusioned by high unemployment is something China can ill afford at a time of rising social tensions. At the same time, an inability to replace young workers with older ones could spell the end of the golden age of China’s mighty manufacturing sector.

Yet, if the demographic transition is managed successfully, there will be just cause to celebrate. The Chinese economic miracle has pulled more than 200m people out of poverty over the past 30 years. In the last ten, it has allowed 60m children who would otherwise never have finished secondary school to do so. The next task will be to ensure that their studies have not been in vain.”

via Peak demographics.

Getting old after getting rich: comparing China with Japan (eastasiaforum.org)
Aging workforce and rising wages stripping China of manufacturing advantage (wantchinatimes.com)
The dangers of China’s urbanization drive (wantchinatimes.com)

Posted in Ageing population, agriculture, China alert, Construction, demographics, Economics, employment, higher education, Labour, labour shortage, Manufacturing, Population, urban development | 3 Comments »

Tags: Ageing, Business, China, economy, Germany, Japan, Legal working age, Secondary education, Urbanization

15/01/2013

Another spur to the New Orient Express.

Posted in Construction, economic inter-dependence, Economics, GeoPolitics, Infrastructure, railways | 1 Comment »

Tags: China, high speed train, Laos

06/01/2013

* China building nuclear power plant with fourth-generation features

Xinhua: “China has broken ground on a 3 billion-yuan (476 million-U.S. dollar) nuclear power project that will be the first in the world to put a reactor with fourth-generation features into commercial use, a Chinese energy company said Sunday.

It also marks China’s latest move to speed up nuclear power development, which came to a halt after the Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan in 2011.

Construction of the project at Shidao Bay in the coastal city of Rongcheng, east China’s Shandong Province, began last month, Xinhua learned from Huaneng Shandong Shidao Bay Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. (HSNPC), the builder and operator of the plant.

With a designed capacity of 200 megawatts and “the characteristics of fourth-generation nuclear energy systems,” the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor will start generating power by the end of 2017, the HSNPC said in a statement sent to Xinhua via email.

Independently developed by China’s Tsinghua University, the reactor has the features of “inherent safety” and “passive nuclear safety” in line with the fourth-generation concept, meaning it can shut down safely in the event of an emergency without causing a reactor core meltdown or massive leakage of radioactive material, according to the statement.

The reactor can have an outlet temperature of 750 degrees Celsius, compared with 1,000 degrees Celsius that can be reached by the very-high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, an internationally-accepted fourth-generation reactor concept.

It can also raise electricity generation efficiency to around 40 percent from the current 30-percent level of second- and third-generation reactors, said the statement.

If it is commercially successful, the reactor’s technology and equipment can be exported to other countries in the future, said an HSNPC public relations officer who declined to be named.

“That will be a great boost to China’s nuclear industry, as a very high percentage of the equipment is produced domestically instead of being imported,” the official told Xinhua by telephone.

The project is part of the HSNPC’s broader plan to build a 6.6-gigawatt (GW) nuclear power plant that will require approximately 100 billion yuan in investment over 20 years. If completed, it would be China’s largest nuclear power plant, said the official.

The rest of the plan includes four 1.25-GW AP1000 pressurized water reactors and a 1.4-GW CAP1400 pressurized water reactor.

via China building nuclear power plant with fourth-generation features – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

Posted in China alert, Construction, Economics, Electricity, Environment, Infrastructure, innovation, Science, Technology | 2 Comments »

Tags: China, Nuclear power, Shandong, Shidao Bay, Tsinghua University, Very high temperature reactor

06/01/2013

* Pirated Copy of Design by Star Architect Hadid Being Built in China

Spiegel Online: “Star architect Zaha Hadid is currently building several projects across China. One of them, however, is being constructed twice. Pirates are the process of copying one of her provocative designs, and the race is on to see who can finish first.

Star architect Zaha Hadid has become one of the most admired architects in the...

London-based Zaha Hadid, widely regarded as one of the leading lights in the constellation of avant-garde architecture, has likewise become a superstar in China, where her latest designs radiate out through architecture schools and studios across the country. On a recent trip to Beijing, 15,000 artists, architects and other fans swarmed to a talk she gave for the opening of the futuristic Galaxy SOHO complex — just one of 11 projects she is designing across the country.

But the appeal of the Prtizker Prize winner’s experimental architecture, especially since the unveiling of her glowing, crystalline Guangzhou Opera House two years ago, has expanded so explosively that a contingent of pirate architects and construction teams in southern China is now building a carbon copy of one of Hadid’s Beijing projects.

What’s worse, Hadid said in an interview, she is now being forced to race these pirates to complete her original project first.

The project being pirated is the Wangjing SOHO, a complex of three towers that resemble curved sails, sculpted in stone and etched with wave-like aluminum bands, that appear to swim across the surface of the Earth when viewed from the air.

Zhang Xin, the billionaire property developer who heads SOHO China and commissioned Hadid to design the complex, lashed out against the pirates during the Galaxy opening: “Even as we build one of Zaha’s projects, it is being replicated in Chongqing,” a megacity near the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau. At this point in time, she added, the pirates of Chongqing are building faster than SOHO. The original is set for completion in 2014.

‘China Can Copy Anything’

Zhang has issued an open appeal for help in combatting this massive, open counterfeiting operation, and lamented: “Everyone says that China is a great copycat country, and that it can copy anything.”

Piracy is pervasive in China, where counterfeit iPods, iPhones and iPads are sold openly, and even entire fake Apple stores have proliferated across upwardly mobile cities. Although China has, on paper at least, a series of laws to protect intellectual property, enforcement of these rules is wildly sporadic.

Yet You Yunting, a Shanghai-based lawyer who founded an online journal covering intellectual property issues, said China’s copyright law includes protection for works of architecture. You said he has studied the copying of the Hadid project, and added: “The two versions of the complex are quite similar.”

“SOHO could have a good chance of winning litigation in this case,” he predicted. “But even if the judge rules in favor of SOHO, the court will not force the defendant to pull the building down. But it could order the payment of compensation.””

via Pirated Copy of Design by Star Architect Hadid Being Built in China – SPIEGEL ONLINE.

Posted in China alert, Construction, Economics, Intellectual Property Rights | 3 Comments »

Tags: Beijing, China, Chongqing, economy, Guangzhou Opera House, SOHO China, zaha hadid

CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon

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* Plans to Harness China’s Nu River Threaten a Region

* Henan villagers ‘beaten up by hundreds of rail workers’ over land dispute

* Spike in land abuse cases in China’s western regions

* New Beijing airport targets 2018 opening

* Behind China’s Switch to High-End Exports

* China’s Xi tells Africa he seeks relationship of equals

* China’s workforce peak demographics

* China building nuclear power plant with fourth-generation features

* Pirated Copy of Design by Star Architect Hadid Being Built in China

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