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China III emission standards lame

By Hao Zhou (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-05-09 17:01

The China III emission standards will soon come into force nationwide as of July 1 this year in line with the Ministry of Environment Protection's agenda. Meanwhile, sales and registrations of those vehicles only meeting the China II standards will be suspended.

However, the goal still appears to require time before full implementation as government organs, automakers, engine manufacturers, and fuel suppliers strive to reach the same ground.

Unbalanced development

Earlier last month, the director of Xi'an vehicle emission supervising center Mu Qiwang said enforcement of the China III emission standards in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, is likely to be postponed to October this year, he reveald in an interview with local media.

The report also said local dealers had received respective auto manufacturers' notices that some light trucks, pickup trucks and business cars which meet the China II emissions standard could be sold until September in 2008.

"This is a complicated issue which is related to many other problems. Supply of fuels meeting the China III standards, for example, is beyond local administrations' ability and needs to be handled by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)," Mu told the 21st Century Business Herald. And he repeated that Xi'an was planning to exert the China III emissions standard from this October.

Sources from Shaanxi Environment Protection Administration's technological standard office confirmed that the whole Shaanxi Province has the same agenda with Xi'an. It plans an overall inspection towards supplied fuels in the province in September and then shift to all vehicles on sale in the province in October.

Even Xi'an, which is more or less outpacing most other western Chinese cities in controlling automobile emissions, is still in trouble to come up with the national agenda, not to mention provinces like Gansu and Qinghai.

Still some cities are stepping ahead. Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, has implemented the China III emission standards since May, and Guangzhou also plans in July this year. Beijing has already executed the China IV emission standards early in March this year. Shanghai also mulls to take on the China IV standards by the end of 2009.

Thirsty for qualified fuels

Although the Chin III emission standards have been postponed once to July from January this year, a nationwide supply of fuels qualified for the standards won't come until December 31, 2009.

"It's not a problem about technology but investment," said Chen Ge, assistant to the board chairman of China Petroleum and Chemical Coporation (Sinopec).

Beijing Yanshan Petrochemical Co Ltd, affiliated to Sinopec, has already fueled Beijing's vehicles meeting the China IV emission standards, and the refiner's production capacity expansion and technological innovation are undertaken simultaneously.

Insiders from the NDRC familiar with this issue admitted that a huge amount of capital over a hundred billion yuan is needed nationwide to upgrade current technologies and equipment in refineries. But the ongoing fuel pricing system threw a dampener over oil refiners' passion to pay the costs.

He also said PetroChina and Sinopec, the countries two largest oil refiners, are speeding up to provide fuels that meet the China III emissions standard as early as in the first half of next year.