Recently, the Tibet Economic and Credit Office issued a notice on organizing a hearing on the replacement scheme of cement clinker production capacity of Basu Conch Cement Co., Ltd.
In order to thoroughly complete the rectification of environmental protection supervision, Basu Conch intends to supplement 150000 tons of cement clinker production capacity by reducing replacement.
Basu Conch has built and put into operation a 2500 t/d new dry process clinker production line (approved annual clinker production capacity of 750,000 tons) in August 2020, with kiln diameter * kiln length of Φ4.3 * 64 m. According to the cement clinker capacity conversion table in the implementation measures of cement capacity replacement issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the corresponding cement clinker capacity of the kiln diameter is 3000t/d (900,000 tons/year). The actual cement clinker production capacity corresponding to the completed kiln diameter exceeds the registered production capacity by 150,000 tons/year.
Initially, the original intention of cement clinker capacity conversion proposed in the implementation measures of cement capacity replacement in 2014 was to eliminate the number of project capacity according to the capacity conversion table. The implementation method of cement production capacity replacement in 2015 is also clear that the number of production capacity of construction projects and the number of production capacity to be eliminated after 2015 shall be approved in accordance with the cement clinker production capacity conversion table. The conversion of project capacity has been expanded to the verification and confirmation of construction project capacity. The implementation measures for cement capacity replacement
in 2017 put forward that the capacity indicators for replacement shall be determined according to the design capacity on the project filing or approval documents. If the actual capacity is less than the registered or approved capacity, it shall be determined according to the actual capacity. The actual production capacity of the project is calculated and determined according to the cement clinker production capacity conversion table. It has the design capacity and the actual capacity calculated according to the kiln diameter. The administrative interpretation of the operational questions and answers on the implementation measures of cement capacity replacement
in 2020 maintained the opinions of 2017. The implementation measures for replacement of cement production capacity
in 2021 are more rigorous in determining production capacity. The capacity index used for replacement shall be determined according to the design capacity on the project filing or approval documents. If the actual capacity is less than the registered or approved capacity, it shall be determined according to the actual capacity, and if the actual capacity is greater than the registered or approved capacity, it shall be determined according to the registered or approved capacity. The actual production capacity of the project is calculated and determined according to the cement clinker production capacity conversion table.
The kiln path has expanded from the beginning of calculating the production capacity of the elimination project to the verification of the production capacity of the construction project. As a result, in order not to "waste" the production capacity index of 1 ton, the kiln diameter of the construction project is no longer the usual hundred-digit (millimeter) integer, but the reverse calculation of the one-digit (millimeter) integer kiln is not rare. Various kiln paths are also a "scene" of the cement industry. The method of calculating the production capacity from the kiln diameter will judge whether the project is "small and large" and "simple". In April
2022, the Fourth Eco-environmental Protection Supervision Group of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China carried out an eco-environmental protection inspection in the Tibet Autonomous Region. During the inspection (according to the kiln path), it was pointed out that there was a problem of "approving small and building large" in Basu Conch. In order to thoroughly rectify the problem of "approving small projects to build large ones" and ensure the construction needs of major national projects in eastern Tibet, with the approval of the People's Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region, it is proposed to reduce and replace 150000 tons of cement clinker production capacity from outside the region to make up for the excess production capacity of Basu Conch. The author agrees with the timely hearing of the capacity replacement scheme held by the
Tibet Economic and Credit Office. Especially when the capacity replacement method is about to be revised, and under the preferential conditions for Tibet in the draft, we should not delay the rectification according to the current replacement method, which fully embodies the spirit of "China Cement Looks at Conch".
However, after carefully examining the Announcement on Publicizing the List of Cement Clinker Production Lines in the Region issued by the Tibet Economic and Credit Office on March 19 this year, some strange phenomena were found. With the
same kiln diameter of Φ4.3, the production line scale of Basu Conch Cement is 2500t/d, while the production line scale of Gaozheng Building Materials (first and second lines) in Changdu, Tibet and Haitong Cement in Kaitou, Tibet is even smaller, which is 2000t/d. According to the opinions of environmental protection inspectors, if 2500t/d Basu Conch needs to supplement 150000 tons of cement clinker production capacity through reduction and replacement, then do the other two enterprises have more serious violations of "approving small and building large"?
It is a matter of concern that "building a large number of small ones" is not unique to Tibet. According to the statistics of Cement Big Data Research Institute, since this year, there have been 6 cases of capacity replenishment schemes announced (including cancellation), especially in July, there are 4 project schemes announced, in which except Henan Huanshan Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. The actual capacity is greater than the registered capacity. In May
this year, the Central Second Eco-environmental Protection Supervision Group inspected Zhejiang Province and found that the responsibility for air pollution prevention and control in some key cities was not in place, and the "two high" projects were not strictly controlled. In May 2018, the capacity replacement plan announced by the former Zhejiang Economic and Credit Commission specified that two 5000 t/d cement clinker production lines would be built with a kiln diameter of 4.8 meters. Inspectors found that, in fact, the relevant departments in the project location illegally agreed to adjust the construction specifications of the enterprise kiln diameter to 5 meters, and went through the approval procedures, and the two production lines increased production capacity by 1000 t/d in violation of regulations.
To sum up, the situation of "approving small and building large" is not an individual phenomenon. The rectification and reform of "approving small projects and building large ones" requires not only the attention of Tibet, but also the strengthening of supervision throughout the country. Relevant departments should strengthen the review of capacity replacement schemes to ensure the transparency and compliance of capacity replacement work, so as to promote supply-side structural reform, strictly control the construction of "two high" projects, and further consolidate the achievements of cement industry in capacity reduction.
