| China delays plan to close unsafe small coal mines due to local resistance |
SHANGHAI, Oct 13 (AP) -- China has put off plans to close all unsafe, small-sized coal mines by 2008, due to strong opposition from local governments that depend on them for jobs and tax revenues, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.
China had planned to reduce the number of its 17,000 small coal mines, which produce one-third of the country's coal, to 10,000 by 2008. The deadline has been moved back to 2010, Xinhua cited An Yuanjie, an official with the State Administration of Work Safety, as saying.
To continue operating, remaining mines must upgrade to meet national safety standards.
The plan to close thousands of mines thought to be too unsafe or too small to stay in business within two years were foiled by local authorities, the report said. It did not give examples or details.
China's mines are the deadliest in the world, with about 6,000 people dying each year in explosions, floods, collapses or other disasters. Two-thirds of those accidents are at mines producing less than 30,000 tons of coal a year.
The report said that 2,652 mines would close in 2006, and 2,209 in 2007
|
|
