| Model of new
Shougang plant at Caofeidian |
(BEIJING, May 11) -- Over 20 reporters from major news organizations of
several countries toured Caofeidian, site of Beijing Capital Iron and Steel
Group's new steel plant in Hebei Province from Thursday to Friday.
They were informed that the project, a new move by China to protect the
environment, is bringing development opportunities to surrounding regions,
changing China's economic growth pattern and helping to improve air quality of
Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games.
The visit brought reporters from the United States, Japan, Russia, Singapore,
Spain and others to the display hall, the site of 5,500-cubic-meter blast
furnace and 250,000-ton wharf.
Construction of the new plant began on March,12, 2007. It has a designed
production capacity of 8.98 million tons of iron, 9.7 million tons of steel and
9.13 million tons of rolled steel a year for the first phase, to supply high
value-added and urgently needed steel for the country's shipbuilding, bridge,
boiler, and car-making industries.
In 2008 half of the designed capacity is expected to be realized and in 2010
the plant will be fully put into operation. State-of-the-art technologies have
been applied for the production of the plant, especially in the reduction of
dust emissions, while most of the solid waste and waste heat, gas and water will
be recycled.
The Beijing Capital Iron and Steel Group, known as Shougang, is widely
accused of being a major polluter in Beijing. In 2005, it started to relocate
some of its facilities to Caofeidian, 220 kilometers east of Beijing
The project lies on the resource-rich eastern part of Hebei Province, which
has one billion tons of proven oil reserves, 4.4 billion tons of iron ore and 5
billion coal reserves, and is set to become a massive port and industrial
zone.
Shougang aims to cut its output by 4 million tons this year and another 4
million tons in 2008. Beijing's environment agency says with Shougang's
relocation Beijingers may inhale 18,000 tons less particulate matter a year, the
total emission of about 100 average-sized manufacturing enterprises.
| Workers at the
5,500-cubic-meter blast furnace |
| Site of the 5,500
cubic meter blast furnace |
| Phase one of the
250,000-ton wharf |
| At the wharf a
crane is discharging cargo |
