Provinces receive anti-drought fund ( 2003-08-07 10:52) (China Daily)
Fourteen drought-affected provinces will receive a total of 170 million yuan
(US$20.6 million) in aid from the Ministry of Finance, it was announced
Wednesday.
The funds add to the 315 million yuan (US$38 million) already allocated by
the central government to help fight the drought that hit some northern
provinces in spring and some southern provinces in summer.
The decision to provide the extra funds came shortly after the State
Council's teleconference on drought control attended by representatives from 12
provinces, including Zhejiang, Fujian, Hubei and Guangdong.
Premier Wen Jiabao, in his address to the conference, urged authorities to
guarantee water supply in cities and give priority to residential users.
For East China's Zhejiang Province, the hot, dry weather over the last month
or so has proven disastrous.
The province's reservoirs were only half full by the end of last month,
holding less than 20 billion cubic metres, according to statistics from the
local anti-drought office.
And the water levels are still dropping amid extreme temperatures over the
past few days.
More than 200,000 hectares of farmland are now in drought and about 172,000
people are short of drinking water in the province.
The lack of water has been exacerbated by power shortages.
Zhejiang's electricity supplies have dropped to 1.28 million to 1.38 million
kilowatt (kW), about 0.7 million kW lower than in July.
As the shortages worsen, many residential districts in Hangzhou have had
their electricity cut off every two or three days for the first time in the
city's history.
Many large enterprises and factories in the city have had to close up shop to
ensure sufficient supplies for residents.
The provincial government of Zhejiang was also forced to buy electricity from
the East China Electricity Network on August 1, despite the pressures already on
the system. The city of Shanghai as well as East China's Jiangsu and Anhui
provinces are going to reduce their power usage to help Zhejiang through its
energy crisis.
