Power crisis looming in China

Cambodian Times Sunday 14th December, 2003

Millions of residents in southern China are facing a power crisis with no end in sight.

Homes and businesses in Changsa, population about two million, are without electricity one in every four days due to coal and water shortages, the People's Daily reported Sunday.

Officials blame the shortage on a booming economy that has increased the need for electricity in the capital of the Chinese province where Mao Zedong was born.

Hydroelectric plants that provide much of the region's electricity have been crippled by drought and a coal shortage has drastically reduced the output of the area's thermal plants, the newspaper said.

Rolling blackouts have also affected other areas in the south, including Shanghai, which last week ordered all factories to close for a day due to a power shortage.

Planners say it could be years before supply catches up with demand, the newspaper said.