--- At
the 2003 national meeting of directors of Water Resources
Department & Bureau, Minister of Water Resources Wang
Shucheng raised 3 new "Bright Projects" that will
be launched in 2003 in his working report , "Small
Hydropower for Fuel" Ecological Protection Project
is included in the list, the other two projects are soil-retaining
dam and water resources in pastoral areas.
The report pointed out "Small
Hydropower for Fuel" Ecological Protection Project
is of vital importance to consolidation of the efforts of
"converting the land for forestry", improvement
of ecological environment, development of mountainous areas,
promotion of local economic development and poverty alleviation
toward affluence of farmers. At present, the program has
passed the examination of Ministry of Water Resources, and
is being submitted for approval according to the procedure
of capital construction. The project is strived for starting
construction within the year. The report requested a good
preference of experimental work of "Small Hydropower
for Fuel" Ecological Protection Project and construction
of pilot areas, summary and promoting of the experience
of construction of pilot area, enlarge the construction
scale of "Small Hydropower for Fuel" Ecological
Protection Project.
Pilot program for "Small Hydropower
for Fuel" Ecological Protection Project has been approved
by the State Council. To figure out the implementation scheme
of "Small Hydropower for Fuel" pilot project and
well perform the preparatory work of "Small Hydropower
for Fuel" pilot project for early initiation of the
Project, Rural Hydropower & Electrification Development
Bureau(RHEDB) of Ministry of Water Resources held a meeting
on documentation of the implementation scheme of national
"Small Hydropower for Fuel" pilot project in Changsha,
Hunan on March 7th, 2003.
The main contents of the meeting:
to arrange for documentation work of the implementation
scheme of "Small Hydropower for Fuel" pilot project;
to bring forward requirements for preparation of the implementation
scheme; to introduce the situation of the preparatory work
and plan of next stage by relevant provinces; to discuss
how to carry out well the experimental work of the pilot
program.
The participants of the meeting
include the relevant leaders of RHEDB of Ministry of Water
Resources, the principal officials of Water Resources Department&
Bureau of provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities)
and the Water Resources Bureau of Xinjiang Production and
Construction Group, and responsible technical personnel
of county-level "Small Hydropower for Fuel" pilot
projects appointed by provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities).
National "Small Hydropower
for Fuel" planning area covers 886 counties (cities,
districts, banners, divisions) of 25 provinces, autonomous
regions, municipalities and Xinjiang Production and Construction
Group. The total planning area is 3.5 million km2 inhabited
with 70.8 million households with a population of 0.273
billion, among them, "Small Hydropower for Fuel"
project can be carried out in 28.3 million households with
a population of 0.104 billion. It requires a total installed
capacity of 24.06 GW and yearly electricity consumption
of 34 billion kWh. According to the program, the implementation
of the project can reduce the consumption of 0.189 billion
m3 firewood, protect 0.34 billion mu (about 22.6 million
hectares) forests, realize eco-benefit of 36 billion yuan
and result in huge economic and social benefits at the same
time.
(Source:
SHP
NEWS Editorial office)(2003-03-18)
