A SURGE in the demand for industrial gas boilers is expected with the introduction of new regulations to outlaw the use of coal boilers in Shanghai.
About US$7 million of industrial gas and oil boilers will be needed in the fast-growing Pudong industrial zone and other parts of Shanghai within the next two years, according to a visiting Shanghai delegation.
The demand is prompted by a new environmental protection law which came into force last month to reduce the highly polluting industrial coal boilers.
The import and installation of the more environmental friendly boilers will be partly financed by the United Nations Global Environment Fund and the World Bank as a move to support cleaner industrial environment in China.
The two world organisations will provide more than $10 million in a grant and loan to subsidise the purchase of more advanced gas or oil boilers in various state-owned enterprises and joint ventures.
'More than 150 gas or oil industrial boilers will be needed by Shanghai's manufacturing sector with the introduction of new environmental protection laws as of January this year,' said Cheng Qiyao, delegation head and senior engineer of the Shanghai Industrial Boiler Research Institute, yesterday.