China’s one of the leading coal producer Shuozhou, is going to implement more ecological projects and several green elements in the city over the next three years. For the record Shuozhou located in the northern part of Shanxi in north China is known for vast coal mines along with Antaibu China’s largest strip mine.
[box_dark]Brief History of Antaibu [/box_dark]
“Antaibu was one of the nation’s most famous projects that heralded the start of China’s process of opening up. Late Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping met with US visitors and hammered out a deal to co-develop the mine 20 kilometres away from the city in the mid-1980s.”
Power generation and coal production play a major role in developing the country’s economy and also add up to almost 70 % of the city’s economy.
[box_dark]Benefits of the City [/box_dark]
This city provides shelter to about 2 million people. The city is famous for large scale mining industry and coal dependent power plants. Pingshou Coal Industry Co is one among these coal plans that mines 100 million tons of coal annually and even Shentou Power plant provides electricity to cities like Beijing, Tianjin and Tangshan.
[box_dark]Steps to Make it Greener [/box_dark]
“Even though coal mining is the main contributor to the city’s GDP growth, coal excavation causes soil erosion and destroys forests,” said Wang Lijie, a professor from the school of management at the China University of Mining and Technology in Beijing. We don’t want that to happen for sure! So it was a really commendable effort to plan and make the city greener and protect the environment. It has invested 1.76 billion Yuan to improve the public living environment since 2011 and has also invested in major projects to increase the share of green resource in the city.
The gangue produced from coal which is considered to be of no use economically will now be used to generate power if the new plan is executed properly.
“After power generation, coal and coal gangue turn into coal ash, which was also thought to be useless in the past. But the ash contains metals, including alumina and silica, which can be extracted,” said by Shuozhou Mayor Li Zhengyin.
Now even an industrial park is under construction to make better use of coal – ash.
The city is even planning to diversify its economy by strengthening the nine major industries that can influence the environment in a positive way for example animal husbandry, agriculture and the like and even alternate power sources will be constructed to support these industries.
Almost 5 billion Yuan will be invested in water conservation project like dam construction, water irrigation network and water treatment plans. By 2015 the city the city will be expanded by 100 square kilometres.
For every one ton of coal dug out one tree should be planted. Now the forest coverage has reached 28.6% now thanks to the new plans which is about 8 % higher than the national average. The tree plantation program involves the participation of the society. The city offers incentives to all those who all willing to help and build a greener environment.
‘In the past three years, 33,000 hectares of trees have been planted annually. More than 300,000 hectares of land has been afforested so far. Together with Shuozhou’s parks, landscaped area, natural grasslands and restored grasslands, green space makes up more than 40 percent of the city’s entire territory.’
This was really a great effort on the city’s part to help and save the environment! All the cities of China should follow this path and help it to make a greener country. And who knows other countries might also get inspired by this gesture and start doing their bit towards the environment.