National Development and Reform Commission | CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

21/06/2013

4.7-trillion-yuan plan to double mainland road network by 2030

SCMP: “Central government earmarks 4.7 trillion yuan for upgrading and extending roads, giving the country 400,000km of highway by 2030

Newspapers suggest 4.7-trillion-yuan plan to double mainland road network by 2030

The mainland will spend 4.7 trillion yuan (HK$5.9 trillion) in the next 17 years to more than double its network of major roads, top transport officials said yesterday.

Dai Dongchang , chief planner with the Ministry of Transport‘s general planning department, told a press conference that a recently approved blueprint for road expansion included 50,000 kilometres of toll highways and 160,000 kilometres of toll-free “national trunk ways”, which are narrower and have slower top speeds.

The mainland has 173,000 kilometres of the two kinds of road at present and the plan approved by the State Council last month says that should rise to 400,000 kilometres by 2030.

By then, toll-free trunk ways should connect all counties, Dai said, while highways should connect all cities with populations of more than 200,000, as well as important transport junctions and border ports.

Huang Min , head of the National Development and Reform Commission‘s basic industry department, said 18 cities of more than 200,000 lacked highway links at present, while more than 900 counties were not connected to national trunk ways.

The new highways would include two north-south routes in the nation’s west, Huang said, with many of the 900 counties expecting new trunk ways also located in the west.

The mainland now had about 110 million private vehicles, 60 times the number in 1981, when the plan for the existing road system was drafted, he said.

Dai said the volume of goods carried on mainland roads was 3.7 times the volume carried on United States’ roads and was expected to at least double by 2030, along with the number of passenger vehicles.

He said China had previously paid more attention to the construction of highways and small roads in the countryside, leading to sluggish development and poor maintenance of trunk ways.

The blueprint forecasts a total of 5.8 million kilometres of roads on the mainland by 2030 – 84 per cent countryside roads, 9 per cent provincial roads and 7 per cent highways and trunk ways.”

via 4.7-trillion-yuan plan to double mainland road network by 2030 | South China Morning Post.

Posted in China alert, Construction, Economics, Highways, Infrastructure, Transport | Leave a Comment »

Tags: cars, China, National Development and Reform Commission, Road, road expansion, toll highways, transportation, Xi JinPing

29/05/2013

China to issue new plan for air pollution control

China Daily: “China to issue new plan for air pollution control

A national plan for air pollution control could be outlined as early as this week, said 21cbh.com, a professional financial news website Tuesday.

The outline will target the reduction of air pollution on a national scale by establishing clear standards of air quality in different regions.

Coal plants, motor vehicles and dust that produce fine particulate matter will be the focus of strict control in the outline initiated by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, according to multiple sources who told the news website.

The overall plan has undergone multiple revisions and will be submitted to the State Council, China’s cabinet, for review by the end of this month, the Shanghai Securities News quoted Yang Tiesheng, deputy director of the energy saving department under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as saying on May 22.

The specific measures put forward by the plan include stipulating the declining rates of atmospheric pollutants such as PM2.5 (particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter), sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide in cities, the reduction of coal consumption throughout the country, as well as the promotion of using clean energy such as natural gas, while banning coal-fired power plants in cities and minimizing heavy-polluting vehicles.

The Yangtze River Delta region and the Pearl River Delta region will be the key areas of the new air pollution prevention campaign.

Roughly one million heavy-polluting vehicles, popularly known as “yellow label cars”, will be prohibited from driving on roads in Beijing, Tianjin municipality and Hebei province, which would reduce half of the PM2.5 by vehicle emissions alone, said one environmental expert as quoted by the news website.

The outline stipulates that air quality must “make substantial progress” in the upcoming five years rather than the next 20 years, a standard previously adhered to by big cities such as Beijing, according to a source from the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s economic planning body.

Grade II air quality stipulates the average concentration of PM2.5 over a 21 hour period should be between 35 to 75 milligrams per cubic meters, according to the latest standard made by the Ministry of Environmental Protection in 2012.”

via China to issue new plan for air pollution control |Politics |chinadaily.com.cn.

Posted in carbon emission, China alert, Economics, Environment, Green, greenhouse gas, Pollution | Leave a Comment »

Tags: air pollution prevention, Beijing, China, climate, environment, Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China, National Development and Reform Commission, Particulates, Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta

27/05/2013

* Beijing to shut coal-fired boilers to clean up air

China Daily Mail: “Beijing has vowed to eliminate most coal-fired boilers in the city center by the end of 2015 to reduce pollution from fine particulate matter, especially during the heating season.

Beijing to shut coal-fired boilers to clean up air

After reducing coal use by 700,000 metric tons last year, the capital plans to cut another 1.4 million tons this year and use no more than 21.5 million tons, according to the 2013 coal consumption reduction plan released by the city’s Environmental Protection Bureau and Commission of Development and Reform.

Workers with the Beijing District Heating Group destroy two coal delivery channels with cranes on April 25, marking the beginning of the transformation of energy from coal to gas in the last coal-burning power plant in Beijing. CHENG NING / FOR CHINA DAILY

The capital used 26.35 million tons of coal in 2010, the environmental bureau said.

Beijing still has a large number of coal-fired central heating boilers that give off large amounts of coal dust, and noise during the heating season.

Richard Saint Cyr, a family medicine doctor at United Family Health in Beijing, said he has noticed an uptick in discussions about the worsening air quality with many patients since winter.

He said that air pollution in the past winter was unusually serious and he had never witnessed such collective anxiety in Beijing.

Fine particulate matter poses a serious threat to people’s hearts and lungs, he said.”

via Beijing to shut coal-fired boilers to clean up air |Society |chinadaily.com.cn.

Posted in carbon emission, China alert, Economics, Environment, greenhouse gas, Pollution | Leave a Comment »

Tags: air pollution, Beijing, central heating boilers, China, Coal, coal consumption, coal fired boilers, environmental protection bureau, Fossil-fuel power station, National Development and Reform Commission

23/05/2013

* China urbanization plan hits roadblock over spending fears – sources

Reuters: “China’s plan to spend $6.5 trillion on urbanization to bolster the economy is running into snags, sources close to the government said, as top leaders fear another spending binge could push up local debt levels and inflate a property bubble.

A general view of newly built houses at Dadun village of Lingshui ethnic Li Autonomous County, Hainan province, in this January 18, 2013 file photo. REUTERS-Stringer-Files

Premier Li Keqiang has rejected an urbanization proposal drafted by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), seeking changes to put more emphasis on economic reform, according to the sources, who are familiar with the matter.

Many local authorities have already lobbied to get funding for projects, ringing alarm bells among top leaders in Beijing.

State-owned China Development Bank recently pledged to lend 150 billion yuan ($24.47 billion) to southeastern Fujian province to support its urbanization and channel 30 billion yuan into urban projects in central Anhui province, according to Chinese media.

“The urbanization plan could be delayed. Top leaders have seen potential risks if the program cannot be kept on the right path,” said an economist at a top think-tank which advises the cabinet.

“The leadership aims to jumpstart reforms, but local governments see this in a different perspective – they view this as the last opportunity to boost investment,” said the economist who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

China plans to spend some 40 trillion yuan ($6.5 trillion) to bring 400 million people to its cities over the next decade as leaders such as Li try to sustain economic growth that slowed to a 13-year low of 7.8 percent in 2012.

Li, the driving force behind urbanization, has turned more cautious following warnings from leading academics over the risks, said the think-tank sources who are involved in the policy discussions.

The NDRC is racing against the clock to amend the long-term plan in a bid to publish it by the end of June.”

via Exclusive :China urbanization plan hits roadblock over spending fears – sources | Reuters.

* China’s Vision for a ‘New’ Urbanization (chindia-alert.org)
* Right thing to do comes with a price tag (chindia-alert.org)

Posted in China alert, Economics, local government debt, urban development | 1 Comment »

Tags: Beijing, China, China Development Bank, Li Keqiang, National Development and Reform Commission, Urbanization

09/05/2013

* China’s Vision for a ‘New’ Urbanization

WSJ: “China watchers are all abuzz about urbanization, which is supposed to be a focus of reform. But what does the term mean? After all, China has been urbanizing for 30 years, which has meant building roads, subways, ports — and relying more and more on infrastructure spending, which seems to have less and less payoff these days.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China’s state planning agency, is due to produce a report later this year laying out a path for a new kind of urbanization.

Li Tie, director general of the NDRC’s China Center for Urban Development, said the report involves a “new model of city development,” which would include three main parts:

First, there would be a focus on “low carbon” development — meaning trying to assure Chinese cities ease their horrendous pollution.

Second, would be reform of the household registration, or hukou, system. For smaller cities the system would be “totally liberalized,” Mr. Li said. He didn’t lay out his thoughts fully, but seemed to suggest that all residents would enjoy the same rights and benefits regardless of where they were born. For larger cities, migrants would get “resident cards” which assured them “improved treatment” and access to social services.

Third, China would look to increase “clustering” in big cities. Mr. Li didn’t explain what he meant by that, but in urban planning speak, clustering usually means trying to develop industries or specialties in a city or group of cities. That’s a way to build on the intellectual frisson of urban life, where new ideas can spawn new industries.

Those proposals address some of the most vexing problems with life in China’s cities: pollution, widening social inequality and lack of innovation. They also suggest that China’s leaders are committed to making urbanization into something more than another building spree. But changes would be costly and could require China’s central government to take a much more active role in overseeing—and paying for—urban growth than it has in the past. Whether China’s new leaders are ready to take such steps will become clear over the next year or two.”

via China’s Vision for a ‘New’ Urbanization – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

Posted in China alert, Economics, Migrant workers, Politics, urban development | 2 Comments »

Tags: Beijing, China, China National Petroleum Corporation, environment, Kunming, Li Tie, National Development and Reform Commission, Public Security Bureau, Urbanization

06/05/2013

* Seawater can save thirsty country

desalination plant (Photo credit: roplant.org)

China Daily: “More government support, including subsidies and a favorable pricing mechanism, is needed for the country to use desalinated seawater to quench its thirst, a top industry expert said.

“The lack of an effective pricing mechanism for desalinated water and support for an operable policy is affecting the development of the country’s sea desalination industry,” said Li Linmei, director of the State Oceanic Administration‘s Institute of Seawater Desalination and Multipurpose Utilization in Tianjin.

The country aims to produce 2.2 million cubic meters of desalinated seawater daily in 2015, about three times current capacity, according to a National Development and Reform Commission plan released last year.

Current domestic water prices range from 2.4 yuan to 4.9 yuan a metric ton in the coastal regions, while the price of water for industry ranges from 3.3 yuan to 7.9 yuan a ton, according to ChinaWaterNet.

However, desalination plants can produce 674,000 tons daily at a cost of about 5 yuan ($0.80) a ton — not including infrastructure such as pipelines.

Li said the government should consider bringing desalinated water into the water grid.

Aside from subsidies and funding for pilot programs, Li believes desalination is a key part of water security.

“The seawater desalination industry is as important as water conservancy projects for China to cope with its water shortage,” Li said.”

via Seawater can save thirsty country[1]|chinadaily.com.cn.

Solar Desalination: Creating new sources of water with the power of the sun (ecoseed.org)
Desalination comes of age with Poseidon Plant (utsandiego.com)

Posted in Economics, water security | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, climate, Desalination, desalination industry, environment, National Development and Reform Commission, Reverse osmosis, science, Seawater, seawater desalination, Tianjin, water

19/03/2013

* China heads back to the ’90s in economic reform drive

Reuters: “China is poised to launch its most serious economic reform drive since the 1990s after a series of top appointments at the weekend put the architects of Zhu Rongji‘s clash with state owned enterprises in charge of key economic agencies.

Vice Premier Ma Kai, Finance Minister Lou Jiwei and central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan were all Zhu lieutenants at the State Commission for Restructuring the Economy, which drew up the blueprint to sever the army’s ties with business and make millions jobless as state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were reformed.

They headline a clutch of officials in Premier Li Keqiang’s new line-up, who are broadly considered pro-business economic reformers able to finish the work started by arch-reformer Zhu when he was premier in a way that meets the different economic conditions of today.

“China is about to bring on the structural reforms that will ultimately reduce the old SOEs to ashes,” Paul Markowski, President of New York-based MES Advisers and a long-time adviser to China’s financial authorities, told Reuters.

“This is changing the economic policy team in a way that would be akin to bringing back the Clinton economic team to run President Obama’s economic initiatives,” said Markowski, who met with senior officials – including those at the central bank and the powerful planning agency the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) – during China’s annual parliamentary meeting this month.

Zhu was credited with getting China into the World Trade Organisation in a move that required shutting thousands of inefficient businesses and ultimately set the nation’s exporters on course to become the world’s most prolific, driving the economy to No.2 spot behind the United States in the process.

The pace of reform hasn’t been matched since, allowing SOEs to expand their share of economic activity and retain their preferred borrower status at the nation’s banks, which critics say starves the private sector of capital and chokes innovation.

The need for an energetic push on economic reform is acute, not least because easier reforms have been done and China’s economy, now more than five times the size it was when Zhu left the stage, will respond in more muted fashion.”

via Analysis: China heads back to the ’90s in economic reform drive | Reuters.

China reappoints central bank chief (radionz.co.nz)
China Adds Lou to Economic Team as Nomura Sees Crisis Risk (bloomberg.com)

Posted in China alert, Economics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Business, China, economy, Lou Jiwei, National Development and Reform Commission, politics, Zhou Xiaochuan, Zhu, Zhu Rongji

07/03/2013

* China begins underground water safety investigation

Xinhua: “China has conducted investigations and research on the condition of underground water to determine the extent of pollution, a senior official from China’s top economic planning agency said Thursday.

“Based on the results we’ve collected so far, the safety of underground water is generally guaranteed, particularly the safety of drinking water from underground,” Du Ying, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said at a press conference.

“But we can’t rule out the possibility that the pollution of underground water will worsen,” Du told the press on the sidelines of the annual session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee, the top political advisory body.

He said the pollution of underground water is a problem not only in cities but also in rural areas, and is spreading from shallow aquifers to deeper aquifers.

Many Chinese were infuriated after some chemical plants in east China’s Shandong Province were exposed to have illegally discharged toxic water underground directly, thus threatening the safety of underground water.

Du said the State Council, or China’s cabinet, together with the local government, has sent out teams to investigate the pollution reports.

“Our investigation into the reported pollution is still under way and no conclusion has been reached,” Du said.”

via China begins underground water safety investigation – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

You: Tip on toxic discharges worth 100,000 yuan (english.people.com.cn)
Deliberate Pollution of Groundwater Shocks Chinese Netizens (theepochtimes.com)

Posted in agriculture, China alert, Economics, Environment, Green, Pollution | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, Groundwater, National Development and Reform Commission, pollution, water

10/02/2013

* China targets $287b resource recycling industry

China Daily: “China will boost the annual output value of its resource recycling industry to 1.8 trillion yuan (287 billion US dollars) by 2015 as part of the country’s bid to develop a circular economy.

The government will also increase the resource productivity, or economic output per unit of resource use, by 15 percent as of the end of 2015, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner.

The goals were written in a national plan on spurring the development of a circular economy recently released by the State Council, or China’s cabinet, the NDRC said in a statement on its website.

Major tasks listed in the plan include building nationwide industrial and agricultural systems that are cleaner and allow more recycling of renewable resources and promoting green consumption.

It’s imperative for China to speed up developing the circular economy as the country sees continuously growing energy and resource demand, piling waste and rising pressure in tackling climate changes, the statement quoted an unnamed NDRC official as saying.

China pins hopes on circular economy, an economy highly efficient and recyclable in resource use, to shift its growth pattern to a more sustainable and greener one.”

via China targets $287b resource recycling industry |Economy |chinadaily.com.cn.

Making Sense of the Circular Economy (triplepundit.com)
Consumers Goods Firms Could Save $700 Billion With Circular Economy (environmentalleader.com)
China to cut unit industrial energy consumption by 5% (nzweek.com)

Posted in agriculture, China alert, Economics, Environment, Good news | 1 Comment »

Tags: China, Circular economy, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, environment, National Development and Reform Commission, NDRC, Recycling, resource productivity, science, Waste Management

07/10/2012

* China spends heavily in afforestation efforts

China continues to invest heavily in its environment. This is despite not formally singing up to varius global agreements.

China Daily: “The Chinese government allocated 46.2 billion yuan ($7.22 billion) from its central budget to the return-farmland-to-forests plan during 2008-2011, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

As of the end of 2006, around 9.3 million hectares of farmland had been converted to forests since the government launched a national campaign in 1999. Around 15 million hectares of hillside was closed to facilitate afforestation during the period, according to the NDRC.

Under the plan, farmers received grain and cash subsidies if they returned their farmlands to woodlands to combat soil erosion.

By 2006, some 124 million farmers had been subsidized and the ecological environment had seen significant improvements, the NDRC said.

The emphasis on boosting forest coverage came amid the country’s efforts to increase its “forest carbon sink capacity”. This means using forested areas to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thereby helping address global climate change.

China’s forest coverage reached 20.36 percent in 2010, up from 18.2 percent in 2005, and is expected to further increase to 21.66 percent by 2015.

via China spends heavily in afforestation efforts |Society |chinadaily.com.cn.

Why are forests important for climate change? (rtcc.org)
China to introduce National Low-carbon Day (capitalfm.co.ke)
https://chindia-alert.org/economic-factors/greening-of-china/

Posted in China alert, Economics, Environment | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Afforestation, China, climate, climate change, environment, global climate change, National Development and Reform Commission, NDRC, soil erosion

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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4.7-trillion-yuan plan to double mainland road network by 2030

China to issue new plan for air pollution control

* Beijing to shut coal-fired boilers to clean up air

* China urbanization plan hits roadblock over spending fears – sources

* China’s Vision for a ‘New’ Urbanization

* Seawater can save thirsty country

* China heads back to the ’90s in economic reform drive

* China begins underground water safety investigation

* China targets $287b resource recycling industry

* China spends heavily in afforestation efforts

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