China will speed up building the national research center on coal bed gas engineering by issuing treasury bonds on coal mine safety, according to the State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC).

The research center should place the stress on solving key technical problems and handling the relationship between gas explosion control and utilization, said Zhang Guobao, SDRC vice minister, at the second meeting held recently by the ministerial office for coal mine gas prevention and control.

Since the office was established, 11 expert teams have been sent to 45 major enterprises to conduct safety assessments. The notice for raising standards of coal mine safety production fee has been issued, and the first treasury bonds funds of 50.2 million yuan (6.06 million US dollars) for coal mine safety improvement have been appropriated for the establishment of gas monitoring system in 104 coal mines of the country.

The present tasks include speeding up the establishment of the coal bed gas engineering research center and the establishment of coal mine gas prevention and control information system and enhancing investigation and research of coal mine gas control and utilization, Zhang said. This year, China will invest 15 billion yuan (1.81 billion US dollars) in technological upgrading of coal mine safety system, which will be basically completed in upcoming two or three years.

Established last March, the ministerial office for coal mine gas prevention and control was made up of 12 departments including the SDRC, the General Administration of Work Safety (GAWS) and the ministries of Science and Technology, finance, labor and social security and land and resources.

Source: Xinhua