Coal-rich Shanxi province will build 200 new schools and
kindergartens in areas affected by the mining industry and renovate
100 existing ones this year, acting Governor Meng Xuenong said
yesterday.
Speaking at the opening of the 11th Shanxi Provincial People's
Congress, Meng said the school program is the first of 10 key
programs the provincial government will carry out this year.
The mining industry has changed the landscape of the province
and affected the daily lives of residents, he said.
A recent report by the Shanxi provincial department of land and
resources showed that more than 1,000 sq km of land has subsided
near nine major State-run coal mines in the province, destroying or
damaging 312 schools.
Meng, who became both vice-governor and acting governor of
Shanxi in September, also said the province will build or expand
500 schools in cities and towns this year.
The authorities have increased investment in education in recent
years.
Finance Minister Xie Xuren said that in the first 11 months of
last year, authorities spent 558 billion yuan ($77 billion) on
education, up almost 33 percent on the same period in 2006.
Shanxi is the country's top coal producer but mining accidents
and environmental degradation are perennial concerns.
Land subsidence resulting from years of coal mine exploitation
has affected more than 600,000 people in the province, official
figures have shown.
Provincial authorities will also this year build 21,000 new
houses for families affected by the subsidence, Meng said in the
report.
(Xinhua News Agency January 17, 2008)