CHINA PUTS TRANSPORT OF COAL ON PRIORITY TO EASE SHORTAGE

BEIJING,Jan 14(Bernama)-- China's Ministry of Railway has put coal
transporttheir priority in the coming weeks to ease shortage of the fuel in
Hunan,Jiangxi, Hubei and Henan provinces.

Many provinces and municipalities in central and eastern China are currently
facing an energy crisis, where stockpile of coal had fallen to critical level as
a result of increasing energy demand.

The transportation of coal has been also delayed by the acute cold weather.

According to local media, coal reserves in nearly 600 major power plants
have been falling with only enough remaining for nine days, and coal supplies in
205 power plants may not last more than another week.

Coal has been the main fuel for generation of power in China.

The country's main coal producing areas are largely in the northern region
like Inner Mongolia,Shanxi, and Guizhou province. The coal supplies are
transported through railways, road and sea to central and coastal provinces.

Due to the shortage of coal, at least five Chinese provinces and
municipalities, including Hubei and Jiangxi provinces had resorted to rationing
of power.

It was reported that the bitter cold weather had pushed up demand for
residential heating, which prompted a power shortage in many parts of
China.
--BERNAMA