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Shanxi sinking as mines riddle land
He suggested that the government should grant special funds to help farmers and workers in the sunken areas with housing, job training, and social security benefits.
"Most importantly, the government should take action now to fill those underground tunnels," said Li. "In developed countries, it is common practice to refill empty underground mines. But we didn't take any measures to fill those hollowed out mines," said Li. A team of 15 researchers including Li has examined mines nationwide since July 2003 and found that Shanxi Province, the biggest coal supplier, has suffered most from subsidence. Provincial and local governments have decided to earmark huge amounts of capital to curb subsidence and fill the underground mines. With financial aid from the central government, the province plans to spend 7 billion yuan (US$864 million) over the coming five years. In Taiyuan alone, the total will reach 900 million yuan (US$110 million) within two or three years. Jin Shanzhong, vice-governor of Shanxi, urged all officials who associated themselves with coal mines to withdraw their investment. The central government has set a deadline for September 22 The government has found that local officials sometimes provide protection for mine owners, even if their operating conditions fail to meet national safety standards. In Linfen, a city in Shanxi famous for coal production, for example, 51 local officials have been punished because of their involvement in coal mines' operations. "Cutting officials' ties with coalmining is our priority in improving mine safety and our determination is steely," proclaimed Jin. In the first seven months of this year, Shanxi witnessed 90 coal mine accidents, which claimed a total of 316 lives. Shanxi has closed more than 6,000 small mines over the past five years. The province plans to cut the number from 3,800 to approximately 2,000 in five years. This year the province will begin to phase out small mines with an annual production below 90,000 tons and will no longer approve the operation of new mines whose capacity is less than 300,000 tons a year.
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