Guideline issued to promote safe urban development

China unveiled a guideline to push for the safe development of cities on Jan 7 as some major accidents in cities caused casualties and property loss in recent years.

The guideline, made public by the general offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, made clear that the country must uphold the vision of making development people-centered and never seek development at the cost of safety.

It says that China aims to achieve “noticeable progress” in safe urban development, and create a number of demonstration cities in line with the objectives for becoming a moderately prosperous society in all respects by the year 2020. And by 2035, China should be able to put in place an improved system for safe urban development and create safe cities that are in line with the requirements for realizing socialist modernization.

The guideline stressed that China must raise the capability of ensuring urban safety and prevent major accidents to create a sound environment for people’s lives and work. And for residential areas, commercial areas, development zones, industrial parks and port areas, safety must be the prerequisite in determining their layouts.

Regulations revised on exclusive selling rights for salt

The State Council issued a newly revised regulation on the exclusive selling rights for salt as a State Council decree was signed by Premier Li Keqiang. The new regulation emphasized enhancing administration over edible salt and also guaranteeing its quality and supply security to safeguard people’s health.

It was made clear that the salt monopoly administration belongs to the State, and edible salt refers to salt that can be eaten directly and used in food processing. The new regulation will be applied to any activity concerning the production, sales and reserves of edible salt in China’s territory.

As China implements a system where only designated companies can produce or wholesale edible salt, other companies are forbidden to do so, the decree noted. Provincial-level governments’ salt administration departments should designate production or wholesale companies according to a unified plan, issue certificates to these companies, publicly release the list of companies in a timely manner, and inform the State Council for filing purposes.

Coal-group plans will help mergers and acquisitions

China is planning several major coal-group mergers and acquisitions by 2020, the country’s top economic planner said on Jan 5.

The National Development and Reform Commission, jointly with 11 other government agencies, released a guideline on Jan 5 that made clear that the government will support M&As among coal firms of different scales, regions and ownership and encourage market players to expand business from coal production to service. Coal firms are also encouraged to conduct M&As with players in related sectors, including power, coal, chemicals and steel, to fully integrate their resources in the wider industrial chain.

The efforts aim to push the reduction of excess coal capacity, upgrade technology, improve resources allocation and production safety. By the end of last year, the number of coal mines in China dropped to about 7,000, from 10,800 in 2015, according to the NDRC.