Sinking land proves costly
www.chinaview.cn 2005-01-25 08:23:45
BEIJING, Jan. 25 -- Almost 400,000 people have lost land, shelter, or jobs because of 700,000 hectares of land that has sunken into the earth after coal was removed from mines across the nation, researchers have found.
The subsidence has caused direct economic losses of US$6 billion since 1949 when New China was founded, according to the research findings of a team from the Shanxi Provincial Academy of Social Sciences.
The findings showed hundreds of thousands of farmers have been affected by losses of land and shelter, while many thousands of miners have lost their jobs.
Li Lianji, a senior researcher from the academy, suggested that the government should take concrete measures to prevent such subsidence and the environmental impacts caused by it.
First of all, the government should grant special funds to help farmers and workers in the caved-in areas in housing, job training, and social security benefits, said Li, who headed the national research.
"And most important, the government should take action now to fill those underground tunnels," said Li.
China's steaming economy has burned millions of tons of coal and its output last year reached a record high of 1.9 billion tons.
"But we didn't take any measures to fill those hollow underground mines with stuff like rock," said Li. But in the developed countries, it's a common practice to refill empty underground mines after mining.
A team of 15 researchers have polled nationwide mines since July of 2003 and found that Shanxi Province, the biggest coal supplier, has suffered most from subsidence.
He said about 394,000 people in the province have suffered because of the subsidence problem.
The government should spare no efforts in cultivating new industries to absorb the large number of laid-off workers the closed mines have caused, said Li.
He also suggested the government should require coal enterprises to fill empty tunnels, with the cost added onto the price of coal.
"It could raise the prices of coal and maybe energy users will consider improving energy efficiency and savings," said Li.
For quite a long time, coal prices in China have been relatively low because of governmental regulations.
Li said room still remains for rising coal prices in a bid to earmark more capital into safety equipment and subsidence prevention.
(Source: China Daily)
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