Strategic coal reserves mooted
29 June 2007
The National People's Congress (NPC) is drafting an amendment to a coal law that would increase China's strategic coal reserves, state media reported. The proposed amendedment addresses such issues as the number of reserve sites and the scale of the reserve, said Huang Shengchu, president of the China Coal Information Institute. China currently already has two coal reserve bases with a capacity of 5 million tons each, and two more that will be operational this year or the first half of next year. The amendment is scheduled to be submitted to the Legislation Office of the State Council for review by the end of this year and presented for discussion at the NPC sessions next year. Coal accounts for 70% of the mainland's energy consumption.