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 meters, 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.
(China Daily August 7, 2003)