BEIJING, May 20 -- A 42-year-old coke oven that has made huge contribution to
China's metallurgy industry stopped operation here Saturday for environmental
protection in Beijing, Beijing Shougang Group announced.
General Manager Wang Qinghai of Beijing Shougang Group, China's fourth
largest steel maker, made the announcement and said the company is relocating
polluting plants to the neighboring Hebei Province so that the national capital
can have more blue skies.
The company's No. 2 coke oven has set five records in China, including the
records of the most advanced technology and the single biggest output of coke,
during various periods.
The oven has produced 6.48 million tons coke, 380,000 tons of other chemicals
and 2.6 billion cubic meters of coal gas since it started operation in December
1964.
"I feel sorry that the long-lived oven stops operation. But it is worthwhile
as Beijing will have more blue skies and cleaner air," said Zhao Xiaoming, a
Shougang staff who has worked beside the oven for 22 years.
The Shougang Group, also translated as the Capital Iron and Steel Company,
was established in 1919 and is one of the country's largest steel-makers.
Although widely regarded as a flagship enterprise in China's iron and steel
industry, Shougang has been vehemently blamed for polluting the capital city in
recent years and is considered a potential obstacle for the upcoming 2008
Beijing Summer Olympics.
In response to the criticism, the company launched, under the approval of the
State Council, an ambitious plan to relocate its polluting plants to the
neighboring Hebei Province.
According to the plan, Shougang has cut its steel output in the past few
years and will further reduce the annual production of its Beijing factories to
four million tons by 2007.
By 2010, all the current Beijing-based steel operations will stop and move to
Hebei with only the headquarters, research and development sections, sales
departments and logistical center staying in the national capital.
Enditem
