Sichuan to Have a Private Railway
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NATION CHINA DAILY THURSDAY MARCH 15, 2007 3 INBRIEF Sichuan to have BEIJING Rail travel record The country’s railway system carried a record 156 million a private railway passengers during the 40-day period spanning Spring Festi- million). It is expected to be val. About 69 million were mid- Investor confi dent of a good, completed by next January, said dle and long-distance travelers. Lai Zheng’ao, chairman of the The Ministry of Railways added steady return under BOT scheme Sichuan Dezhong Investment 22,321 additional passenger Construction Co. trains to cope with the traffi c By Huang Zhiling with the Sichuan Provincial The company’s decision to during the holiday, 514 more Development and Reform Com- build the railway is based on the than the previous year. mission. return expected. It will serve the CHENGDU: Construction Since 2005, the Ministry of Sichuan Yadong Cement Co, and CHONGQING will start next month on the Railways has welcomed social the 800,000-ton ethylene and first privately-funded railway funds to invest in railway 10 million-ton refi nery project Battle against smog project in Southwest China’s construction. BOT, used in in Pengzhou, Lai said. Authorities in this Southwest Sichuan Province. infrastructure construction The Sichuan Yadong Cement China’s municipality are Located in Pengzhou, a city globally, has been used in a Co is the largest Taiwan-invested claiming success in the battle administered by Sichuan’s few local railway projects, said project in Sichuan costing $350 against its infamous smog provincial capital Chengdu, the a ministry offi cial who declined million. Construction of the after a long campaign for Pengzhou-Bailu Railway is be- to give his name. project consists of three phases. cleaner air. ing built under the BOT (Build, But he said BOT would not Last year saw the completion of The city has seen the annual Operate and Transfer) scheme become a major investment the fi rst phase and the launching number of hazy days more which encourages the use of channel in the railway sector. of the second. When the second than halved to an average of private funds. “It is because building a phase is completed next year, the 51 in the last four years from The builder, the privately- railway is very costly, and the company will rely on the Peng- 110 previously, offi cials claim. owned Sichuan Dezhong Invest- returns, though stable, takes zhou-Bailu Railway to transport The hazy weather is a fre- ment Construction Co, will own a longer time than other infra- 4.6 million tons of cement a year, quent occurrence because of the right to operate the railway structure projects,” he said. Lai said. Fatal accident the city’s unique geographic for 30 years before transferring The Pengzhou-Bailu Railway “We can recoup our invest- A lorry ploughs into a mini-van on a highway on Tuesday morning in Nandan County, the conditions. it to the provincial government, will be 29 kilometers long and ment within six to seven years,” Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Seven people died and two were injured in the accident. said Jiang Wenlong, an offi cial cost 420 million yuan ($55 Lai said. Su Hongliu Xinhua technical problems, such as adequate water supply and Shanghai plans an sunlight. Move to better protect Grand Canal “We are considering using a sunlight receiver and trans- By Guan Xiaofeng inadequate protection efforts. (from Beijing to Jining) is not On completion of the project, underground park mitter,” Shu said. Shan said it lacks legislative navigable. the canal will have at least a The sun’s rays will be support, good planning, a coordi- Zhou Liang, an offi cial with level-3 navigational ability, al- By Miao Qing streams, according to Shu Yu, stored by a receiver above A national organization is to be nating mechanism and funds. the Ministry of Communications, lowing 1,000-ton vessels to sail deputy director of the Shang- the ground and then trans- established this year to better Shan criticized some places said the canal remains important from the Dongping Lake in Shan- hai Urban Underground Space mitted to the underground protect the world’s longest and for damaging the canal’s an- to the economy in addition to its dong Province to Hangzhou. Its SHANGHAI: While the city is Development Institute, and a park through optical fibers, oldest canal, the Beijing-Hang- cient look and original style cultural value. transportation capacity will digging deeper to make room researcher involved in the where it will be converted zhou Grand Canal, making it a by constructing numerous city More than 100,000 vessels increase by 40 percent. for more metro lines, shops ecological project. into sunshine. top candidate for a world heritage squares and grasslands along use the canal today and carry At present, the section south and public shelters, it is ex- “We will probably landscape “For water supply, we could site, a senior offi cial said. the waterway. 260 million tons of goods every of the Yangtze River has only a pected to welcome something an existing underground facil- use special tubes to carry the Shan Jixiang, director of the “The canal is more than a year, three times as much as level-4 navigational ability. truly ecological in the near ity in Shanghai to make it re- water directly to the roots of State Administration of Cultural tourist attraction,” Shan said. the Beijing-Shanghai Railway, The 1,794-kilometer-long future — its fi rst underground semble a normal park above plants,” Shu said. Heritage, said at a press confer- “We should combine the protec- Zhou said. Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal park. the ground,” Shu said. Green areas have gener- ence during the Chinese People’s tion work with economic de- “The canal connects major links five major rivers, the Local architects have al- “Green areas will be ex- ally been ignored in the city’s Political Consultative Conference velopment and benefi t people’s coal bases in the north and Haihe, Yellow, Huaihe, Yangtze ready begun working on the tended from the ground to existing underground spaces, that the organization will coor- lives.” serves as a cheap and convenient and Qiantang. project. If it proves feasible, a the walls and ceilings of the most of which are developed dinate protection efforts from Shan disagreed with the idea channel to transport coal to the With parts of the canal dug green park covering hundreds subterranean structure, and for traffic and pedestrian different governmental depart- of making the whole canal navi- fast developing Yangtze River in the 5th century BC, the canal of square meters will be built some indoor plants, such as use. ments and provinces along the gable again. Delta,” Zhou said. had served as a major south- beneath the city in three the broadleaf bracket-plant, The underground park is ex- canal. The canal is now navigable To improve its transportation north transport artery since it years, the fi rst of its kind in will also be used.” pected not only to clean the air Shan admitted the 2,400- between Hangzhou in Zhejiang capacity, Shandong, Jiangsu and was completed in the 13th cen- the entire country. Architects plan to make the and regulate the temperature, year-old canal, approved by the Province and Jining in Shandong Zhejiang provinces will invest tury during the Yuan Dynasty The park will not only con- underground park look like a but also to make for a relaxing State Council as a national key Province. Because of inadequate 20 billion yuan ($2.56 billion) (1271-1368). sist of grass lawns and green small forest. But the design and comfortable environment, cultural relic in 2005, is facing water and narrow course, most on dredging the waterway by vegetation, but also winding has still to overcome some architects said. a series of problems because of of the canal’s northern section 2010. Lifeblood, Page 19 SPECIALSUPPLEMENT Changchun drives on fast track By Jia Jingqi improvement, the mayor Facts and fi gures promised to remove all boilers The GDP of Changchun reached 193.4 billion yuan in 2006, under 10 tons from the central Changchun Mayor Cui Jie up 14.5 percent on a yearly basis. districts of Changchun and pledged to maintain the achieve intensive heat supply continuity and stability of The value of the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors in three years. government work to ensure stood at 19 billion yuan, 94.27 billion yuan and 80.13 billion Furthermore, all buildings the achievement of various yuan respectively in 2006, making up 9.8, 48.8 and 41.4 per- within 150 meters of either economic growth goals. cent of the total. side of the Ring Freeway will Cui, a new mayor voted in at a Local economic development zones realized an accumulated be knocked down within two Changchun Municipal People’s GDP of 100.5 billion yuan last year, crossing the 100-billion- years, half of them this year. Congress session on February yuan mark. Cui added that no matter how 15, said great efforts would be much effort is required and taken to carry out the tasks Fixed asset investments reached 95 billion yuan in 2006, up what diffi culties have to be con- proposed in the government 30 billion yuan or 46.1 percent from a year ago. fronted, the city government will work report for 2007. strive to build Changchun into a The government will put ban workers and the security investment of 30 million yuan national-level sanitary city. together a special team to line for minimum subsistence.