The government plans to spend 23.5 billion yuan ($3.2 billion)
this year to raise energy efficiency and cut pollutant emissions, a
senior finance official said yesterday.
The pricing regimes for energy and resources will also be
reformed, and charges raised for wastewater treatment, said Zhang
Shaochun, vice-minister of finance, at a national conference on
energy efficiency.
Of the fund, 7 billion yuan ($947.2 million) will be earmarked
as grants to encourage major energy-efficient projects, Zhang
said.
Grants used to be disbursed based on the value of projects but
Zhang said the amount now will depend on how much energy the
projects can save.
During the 2006-10 period, energy-efficient technological
upgrading is expected to save 130 million tons of coal equivalent,
Zhang said.
"The more they save, the more grants they will get," he told
finance officials.
The energy efficiency of the projects will be appraised by
independent third-party institutions, he added.
Another 6.5 billion yuan ($879.6 million) will be channeled to
build or upgrade pipeline networks for waste water treatment in the
central and western regions, he said.
The funds will be provided to provinces based on the total
length of the networks and emission cuts in chemical oxygen demand
(COD) - a key water pollution index - Zhang said.
The remainder of the fund will be used for elimination of
out-dated production capacities, monitoring pollution and control
of river and lake pollution.
The government has set a goal of reducing energy consumption per
unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 20 percent during the
2006-10 period, or 4 percent each year, and cutting major
pollutants by 10 percent by 2010.
Zhang said the country has made headway, but more needs to be
done.
(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2007)
