中國接受亞行政策貸款治理污染
The Asian Development Bank yesterday approved a $300m loan to help clean Beijing’s polluted air as it pledged to support China’s efforts to cut coal use in and around the capital.
亞洲開發銀行（ADB，中文簡稱“亞行”）昨日批准一筆3億美元貸款幫助治理北京的空氣污染。該機構承諾支持中國減少首都及周邊地區煤炭使用的努力。
Beijing officials this week issued their first red alert after particulate readings rose to hazardous levels, forcing closure of factories and many schools.
北京官方本週首次發佈空氣重污染紅色預警，原因是空氣中的微小顆粒物濃度升至危險水平，迫使工廠關閉，許多學校停課。
The loan will be used to cut coal use in Hebei province, which contributes much of the pollution that blights Beijing and Tianjin.
亞行的貸款將用於削減河北省的煤炭使用，肆虐京津的污染有很大一部分源自該省。
Some 110m people live in Beijing, Tianjin and the surrounding Hebei province, accounting for 10 per cent of China’s economic output.
北京、天津及周邊的河北省生活着1.1億人，佔中國經濟總量的10%。
The ADB loan will support policies aimed at reducing annual coal consumption in Hebei by more than 12m tonnes. Seven of China’s 10 most polluted cities are in Hebei.
亞行貸款將支持旨在把河北省每年煤炭消耗量減少逾1200萬噸的政策。中國10個污染最嚴重的城市中，有7個在河北。
“Although they are making a lot of effort, the pollution is still there,” Satoshi Ishii, an ADB development specialist, said.
“雖然他們做了很多努力，但污染仍然存在，”亞行發展專家石井曉(Satoshi Ishii)表示。
“The fundamental issue is Hebei’s coal-based economy and industrial structure.”
“根本問題是河北以煤炭爲基礎的經濟和產業結構。”
The package is the first “policy loan” made by the ADB in China. The government has traditionally been reluctant to involve overseas lending agencies in policy decisions on critical issues, but the complexity of the country’s environmental challenges has underscored the need to tap external expertise.
這是亞行首次在中國發放“政策貸款”。傳統上，中國政府不願讓海外貸款機構介入關鍵問題上的政策決定，但中國環境挑戰的複雜性突顯了採納外部專業知識的需要。
“It is less common to do a policy loan for an upper-middle-income country like China,” Hamid Sharif, ADB’s China country director, said.
“向中國這樣的中上等收入國家提供政策貸款比較少見，”亞行駐華首席代表哈米德∠裏夫(Hamid Sharif)表示。
“But as China faces complex issues like air pollution, it is open to policy dialogue and inputs.”
“但在中國面臨空氣污染之類的複雜問題之際，它對政策對話和聽取意見抱開放態度。”
Provincial boundary lines are one of the hurdles to cleaning up China’s air as competing bureaucratic fiefs, concern for local jobs and economic growth get in the way of a regionwide response on the smog-filled North China plain.
省際邊界是治理中國空氣污染的障礙之一，因爲官僚體制內部的地盤之爭以及對當地就業機會和經濟增長的關切，阻礙了對霧霾籠罩的華北平原採取地區對策。
Rules coming into effect next year will force emissions disclosure by thousands of factories, mills and power plants. Current rules only require public disclosure by 3,000 of China’s biggest polluters.
明年即將生效的規則將強制要求成千上萬家工廠和發電廠披露排放數據。現行規則只要求中國3000家污染最嚴重的企業公開披露。
Ma Jun, a Beijing-based environmental activist, said: “You need to know what your neighbour is doing before you can work together.”
北京環保活動人士馬軍說：“你需要知道你的鄰居在做什麼，然後纔可以合作。”
At a briefing yesterday, China officials emphasised the importance of a co-ordinated regional response.
在昨日的一個新聞發佈會上，中國官員強調了區域協調應對的重要性。
“Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei need to increase co-operation,” Yin Hailin, deputy mayor of Tianjin, said. “The first thing is to act together.”
“京津冀確實還需要進一步加大合作的力度，”天津市副市長尹海林表示。“一個是要統一行動。”
In the first 10 months of this year, Beijing closed or moved 315 businesses deemed overly polluting, and demolished 1.7m sq m of buildings.
今年前10個月，北京關閉或搬遷了315家被視爲污染過於嚴重的企業，並拆除了面積爲170萬平方米的建築。
Li Shixiang, Beijing’s deputy mayor, said: “On this problem we share a common fate, and must manage it together. Everybody must have patience and faith.”
北京市副市長李士祥表示：“在這個問題上我們是同呼吸、共治理，大家都應該既有耐心，也有信心。”
