Sand mining ban on Yangtze River extended in east China province

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, November 03, 2002

Sand mining ban on Yangtze River extended in east China province

A two-year ban on sand mining in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River was recently extended for six months by east China's Anhui Province.

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A two-year ban on sand mining in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River was recently extended for six months by east China's Anhui Province.

The sand mining ban was jointly imposed on Oct. 23, 2000 by Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu and other provinces along the middle and lower reaches of the country's longest river.

Originally due to be lifted on Oct. 22, 2002, the ban will now continue until Apr. 22, 2003 in Anhui.

"It is not the time to ease the sand-mining ban on the Anhui section of the river and a premature action may bring traffic trouble and block water traffic again," said an official with local Water and Resources Department, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In the late 1990s, lured by huge profits from sand mining businesses, too many barges swarmed into the river exacting sand, which not only narrowed the river course and caused shipping accidents but also posed a threat to the embankments.

"We will shelve the lifting of the ban until such time as a regulation jointly drafted by the Yangtze River Water Resources Committee, the ministries of Finance and Water and Resources is enacted on the management of sand mining on Yangtze River," the official said.

Anhui Province also needs time to promulgate its own detailed management rules according to the regulations and to establish a well-trained management squad, he added.

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