Highlighting China's deplorable production safety record, Premier Wen Jiabao said in his work report to the National People’s Congress on 5 March that the central government would invest 3 billion yuan from the sale of treasury bonds this year to seek technical solutions to gas explosions in coal mines.

He also said local governments and mine owners must also invest more in this area, the South China Morning Post reported. "Coal mine and traffic accidents occur frequently, leading to serious losses of life and property," he said. "We will adopt comprehensive measures to firmly halt the frequent occurrence of serious accidents."

Premier Wen attributed the mainland's poor safety record to "the economy's huge demand for coal, the poor implementation of safety measures, lax controls by local authorities, and rampant corruption among officials and mine owners."

The premier warned that top local officials would be targeted by proposed tougher legislation aimed at severely punishing those responsible and covering up serious accidents.

Although the premier's pledge was welcome by Li Yizhong, director of State Administration of Work Safety, and some provincial officials, Yu Youjun, the governor of Shanxi province, which contributes a quarter of the country's total coal output, said overproduction of coal had not only resulted in numerous mine disasters but also harmed people's interests and local economic development.

Despite the seemingly high investment on coal mine safety announced by the premier, work safety chief Li Yizhong said last month that 68.9 billion yuan was needed to improve the safety of state-owned coal mines across the country. See our previous report at: 68.9 billion yuan needed to improve coal mine safety, says work safety chief [2]

Sources: South China Morning Post (6 March 2006), Xinhua News Agency (5 March 2006)

6 March 2006