The State Council called for a quick recovery of coal and power supplies to address strong predicted demand during the Lunar New Year holidays, as the mainland enjoyed a respite yesterday from the worst snowstorms in five decades.
Air, railway and road traffic - bottlenecked by snowstorms, sleet and icy weather in 19 provinces since January 10 - has largely resumed. This has given hope to stranded passengers that they may get home in time for Lunar New Year's Eve tomorrow.
The council's command centre, which is overseeing relief efforts, issued two circulars yesterday calling for all those involved to appreciate the grave situation. Electricity demand will rise as the repair of grids in blizzard-hit areas is completed, and with a peak demand season about to begin. 'With the gradual resumption of power grids, the electricity demand will increase. The coal shortage will be a more prominent problem,' one circular read.
Coal reserves could maintain operations for less than seven days in Beijing, Tianjin , Tangshan , Shanghai, Jiangsu , Anhui , Hubei and Shaanxi , National Development and Reform Commission official Zhu Hongren said on Sunday.
In the circulars, the State Council said all regions should ensure power plants had 10 days' coal reserves, mines should cancel the holiday and transport departments should give priority to coal shipments.
The severe power shortage has been among Beijing's top concerns, partly caused by insufficient coal stockpiles kept by power generators, strong demand for heating during a cold winter and railway transport bottlenecks caused by the storms.
