City cut power to cover up cheating
By Claire Wang |
January 18, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A STATE industry watchdog's investigation pushed Linzhou City government in central China's Henan Province to hastily shut heating supplies to more than 5,000 households in an effort to cover up its cheating of a 23 million yuan (US$3.49 million) in environmental subsidy.
The government received 23 million yuan from the National Development and Reform Commission in 2007 after it promised to close down the Youchuang Power Plant and build the Datang Thermal Power Plant with a higher capacity in a bid to upgrade its power facilities, The Beijing News reported yesterday.
However, the government kept Youchuang running illegally until a routine NDRC inspection at the end of last year, the report said.
The city then closed down Youchuang Power Plant without any notice on January 4, cutting heating supplies. A government hotline responded to residents' complaints by saying the move was to meet energy saving targets.
"We got the notice only five minutes before the end of the work on January 3. The notice said the plant would be closed down tomorrow and we didn't need to come to work," a worker surnamed Liu at Youchuang said.
Another worker said the original plan was to shut the factory and sell the machinery after the Datang Thermal Power Plant was put into operation next year, the report said.
The Ministry of Supervision and the NDRC have launched a joint investigation, officials said.
The NDRC ordered Linzhou to return the 23 million yuan subsidy and fined it several million yuan, an insider with Linzhou government told the newspaper.
The construction of Datang Thermal Power Plant was behind schedule due to a shortage of coal, the Linzhou government said on January 13.
But the head of the engineering department of China Datang Corp's Linzhou subsidiary said construction was following plan and the plant would be put into use in 2011. The coal supply wouldn't delay the construction of the plant. It could only affect the power plant after it started to generate electricity.
The government's heating network covers 200,000 square meters of the city and residents pay a one-off fee when the mercury drops below zero.
The government received 23 million yuan from the National Development and Reform Commission in 2007 after it promised to close down the Youchuang Power Plant and build the Datang Thermal Power Plant with a higher capacity in a bid to upgrade its power facilities, The Beijing News reported yesterday.
However, the government kept Youchuang running illegally until a routine NDRC inspection at the end of last year, the report said.
The city then closed down Youchuang Power Plant without any notice on January 4, cutting heating supplies. A government hotline responded to residents' complaints by saying the move was to meet energy saving targets.
"We got the notice only five minutes before the end of the work on January 3. The notice said the plant would be closed down tomorrow and we didn't need to come to work," a worker surnamed Liu at Youchuang said.
Another worker said the original plan was to shut the factory and sell the machinery after the Datang Thermal Power Plant was put into operation next year, the report said.
The Ministry of Supervision and the NDRC have launched a joint investigation, officials said.
The NDRC ordered Linzhou to return the 23 million yuan subsidy and fined it several million yuan, an insider with Linzhou government told the newspaper.
The construction of Datang Thermal Power Plant was behind schedule due to a shortage of coal, the Linzhou government said on January 13.
But the head of the engineering department of China Datang Corp's Linzhou subsidiary said construction was following plan and the plant would be put into use in 2011. The coal supply wouldn't delay the construction of the plant. It could only affect the power plant after it started to generate electricity.
The government's heating network covers 200,000 square meters of the city and residents pay a one-off fee when the mercury drops below zero.
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