For the first time, the Chinese government will charge Shanghai citizens for treating waste water
SHANGHAI households are in for a surprise as they open their mailboxes this month: the city government will charge
them for treating waste water. Companies and work units face a rise of the
already existing fee. Pressurised by the
World Bank (WB), China has decided to
introduce 'the-polluter-pays' principle.
"This is very new for China," says
general manager Zheng Man Gu of the
Shanghai Municipal Sewerage Company
Ltd (SMSC). "Until now companies, work
units and households didn't pay anything or only very little for their emissions of waste water. When money was
needed, the government had to pay," he
said. At present, Shanghai is constructing the biggest sewerage system in
China. The project, to be completed in
AD 2000, includes a us $250 million loan
from the WB.
With 14 million legal residents and
about four million migrants, Shanghai is the biggest city of China. Daily,
5.5 million cubic metre of waste water
pollute the rivers surrounding Shanghai,
of which only 200,000 cubic metre Of
domestic and one million cubic metre
of industrial waste water gets treated.
The resultant environmental effects
are disastrous. A WB report says that
there are "significant health risks...
restricting economic growth". Fish are
dying in the lower Huangpu and its tributaries, and shellfish downstream carry
very high pathogen levels, claimed the
report.
Every year, 300,000 Shanghainese
move to new apartments, and very
often, it's for the first time that they
have their own flushing toilet and shower. But the average daily use of water per person in some districts, which is as low
as 100 litres, is expected to touch an
average high of 250 litte and in some
areas, even 400 litre per person daily.
The new facility would have an initial capacity of 1.7 million cubic metre per day, but would be able to treat five
million cubic metre of water by AD 2020.
According to the WB, the project would
improve the conditions of the Huangpu
river dramatically and curtail freshwater
intake for Shanghai in the long run.
The WB admits that making the polluters pay in China is a difficult issue "in the current inflationary environment",
but it met with a "positive response to
the pricing issue in the water sector".
Paying up is still considered a problem
for the debt-ridden state-owned companies. But the SMSC-general manager says,
"Most companies have no problems."
Levies on the use of water is also
envisaged in future, which the Bank
intends to employ in other projects that
it has planned in the Hubei, Guangxi
and Yunnan provinces.
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