China will complete building 5,000 kilometers of high-speed railways in the mainland’s southern region by 2012 to accelerate its economic integration with the business vibrant Hong Kong and Macao, a senior industry official said Saturday.

The rail tracks, to be laid in the sprawling pan-Pearl Delta region which includes eight provinces and an ethnic autonomous region of the mainland, will account for nearly 40 percent of the country’ total in the coming three years.

Another 5,000 kilometers will be completed in the region from 2012 to 2015, said Lu Dongfu, vice minister of the Ministry of Railways, at the 6th Pan Pearl Delta Regional Cooperation and Development Forum held in Fuzhou, capital of southeast China’s Fujian Province.

Liu said the railway system played a key role in the region’s economic boom, transporting 386 million passengers and 521 million tons of goods in 2009, up 28.7 percent and 7.4 percent respectively from the figures in 2004.

He said after the additional high-speed railways are put into service the railway transport will be faster, safer and more comfortable.

China is investing heavily in the railway system to meet the demands of an increasing number of rush travelors. Authorities vow to cut the travel time between provincial capitals of neighboring provinces to less than two hours.

The pan-Pearl River Delta covers southern coastal provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, inland provinces of Jiangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, as well as Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

The forum, running from Aug. 27 to 31, was attended by key government officials and a number of business people.

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The new Beijing subway Fangshan Line began test operations Saturday and will open to traffic by the end of this year, adding another line to Beijing’s sprawling subway network.

The 25-kilometer light rail line will link Beijing’s central districts with Fangshan District, its southwestern suburb, according to the Beijing Subway Construction and Administration Corporation.

The newly built line is expected to help ease ground traffic and traffic jams in the Chinese capital.

Two parking lots, with 350 parking spaces, will be built along the line in a bid to get nearby residents out of their cars and onto public transportation.

The total length of Beijing subway lines is 228 kilometers, and this figure will increase to 300 kilometers after five lines begin operating this year.

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China will expand its installed hydropower capacity to 300 million kilowatts by 2015 from the current 200 million in an effort to cut carbon dioxide emissions, the country’s top energy official said here Wednesday.

Zhang Guobao, director of the National Energy Administration (NEA), told the popular web port Sina.com in an on-line interview that such an expansion is needed for China’s goal to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 40 to 45 percent by 2020.

China promised at the Copenhagen Conference on global climate change last year that it would generate 15 percent of its power from non-fossil sources by 2020, up from the current 7.8 percent.

“We will take the initiative to deliver that promise even though the task is not easy at all,” Zhang said. “But we still have a lot of basic work to do.”

China has long relied on coal to fuel its economic growth as about 83 percent of its electricity output is produced by coal-fired power stations.

China’s non-fossil sources-generated energy include hydropower projects, nuclear power stations, wind power and solar plants, with hydropower accounting for about three fifths of the total.

Zhang said China would step up its efforts to develop hydropower projects across the country under stricter approval procedures, which focus on the protection of the environment, rights of relocated immigrants and land resources.

Of China’s 542 million kilowatts of exploitable hydroelectric potential, only 400 million kWh is suitable for hydropower construction, Zhang said.

“So China can only develop a maximum of 400 million kWh of installed hydropower capacity,” Zhang said. “The final hydropower generation would likely be between 300 million and 350 million kWh.”

Zhang said the NEA is still studying the feasibility of raising the on-grid price for hydropower to the same rate as electricity produced by thermal power plants.

Such proposal, if adopted, would benefit hydropower operators but increase costs for grid operators and the public.

“Views on raising the on-grid price for hydropower vary among different government departments, and the public at large,” Zhang said. “We should take into account what society can afford.”

China’s feed-in tariff for hydropower projects is mostly between 0.2 yuan and 0.3 yuan per kWh, but the rate for coal-fired power plants ranges higher between 0.3 and 0.4 yuan per kWh. Feed-in rates for wind and solar power are even higher.

China maintains rigid price controls on energy resources including power, gas and oil. On-grid power prices often vary by plant and retail rates differ between region, industry and even users.

Any electricity rate hike must be approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner. Zhang himself is also deputy director of the commission.

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