A senior Chinese construction official said?Friday that the
launch of heating reform in China's urban areas will offer huge
business opportunities for domestic and overseas enterprises.
Li Dongxu, Director of the Urban Construction Department of the
Ministry of Construction told Xinhua that as the Chinese government
had decided to launch pilot heating reform in the northern area,
heat will become a commodity with a huge market in China.
Among the 662 cities in China, 304 have a heating supply
infrastructure. Li said the ministry welcomed enterprises to
participate in the construction and operation of the heating supply
industry.
State-owned heating supply enterprises were also encouraged to
reform into modern enterprises with outside investment, said
Li.
Li said that with the progress of heating reform, China would
further open its heating supply market to foreign capital, which
would improve the country's heating service level. The reform will
also change heating charge standards from the housing area to
heating consumption. Li Xiu, president of the China District
Heating Association, said this change would create a large market
in China for heat measuring equipment.
Li said there were only 63 domestic and foreign-funded
calorimeter factories in China, and the reform had required all new
buildings in areas with central heating to be equipped with
calorimeters and heat control valves.
Old buildings would also be required to fit the equipment. Li
said facing such great demand, China would encourage more foreign
and domestic factories to join the market and reduce cost through
technical innovation.
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(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2003)