Reporter’s investigation： excess capacity projects running red lights

　　CCTV News:De-capacity is a major task of economic work this year. At present, the steel and coal industries have basically completed the task of de-capacity this year. The cement industry is also one of the serious overcapacity. The task of de-capacity is also very serious. Not long ago, someone told the column reporter that the excess capacity of the cement industry in Heilongjiang Province has not only failed to go in recent years, but new projects have been launched and the production capacity has increased. What is going on?

　　In Harbin at the end of November, the outdoor temperature reached MINUS 20 degrees. In Yuquan Town, Acheng District, a huge construction site is under construction.

　　Reporter:It’s so cold that we haven’t stopped working yet. Are we in a hurry or something?

　　Workers:I’m in a hurry. Can you stop work?

　　Reporter:Never stopped working?

　　Workers:No, I’m in a hurry

　　Reporter:Who urged, engineering department.

　　Workers:Engineering department, don’t let me go, it’s MINUS 26 degrees.

　　Outdoor construction is still going on at MINUS 26 degrees, so it seems that the construction period is tight enough. It is understood that this is a production line with a daily output of 7,200 tons being built by Jidong Cement Heilongjiang Co., Ltd.. It is understood that cement is a serious surplus industry, and it is also one of the industries that focus on capacity reduction at present. In view of the serious overcapacity problem in cement and other industries, the State Council issued a document as early as 2009 to strictly control new cement projects. In October, 2013, Guo Fa [2013] No.41 again requested all localities and relevant departments not to approve and record new capacity projects in industries with serious overcapacity in any name or in any way.

　　So is this cement project under construction a new capacity? The reporter came to the company office to learn about the situation.

　　Reporter:We want to find our general manager or be in charge of production and operation. Can you lead us to knock at his office?

　　Staff of the General Department of the Company:It’s beyond my scope. It’s not my responsibility.

　　Reporter:Whose scope is that?

　　Staff of the General Department of the Company:I don’t know, because I am responsible for communication and reporting, and I don’t care about anything else.

　　Reporter:Waiting for your director, right? Director of the general department, right?

　　Staff of the General Department of the Company:I can’t tell you to wait, and I don’t know who you should look for.

　　For the reporter’s visit, the company is unwilling to cooperate. In fact, for cement, an industry with serious overcapacity, it does not mean that new projects cannot be carried out. According to the "Implementation Measures for Capacity Replacement of Some Industries with Serious Overcapacity" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in July 2015, it is clearly required that the capacity replacement plan must be formulated for the project construction of industries with serious overcapacity, and equal or reduced replacement should be implemented. That is to say, in order to add a new project in a surplus industry like cement, it is necessary to replace the same capacity at the same time, that is to say, to remove the same capacity. Capacity replacement is the most critical link for new projects to be launched. So did they do this work for this huge project?

　　After many twists and turns, the reporter interviewed the general manager of Jidong Cement Heilongjiang Company by telephone.

　　Reporter:Have all your capacity replacement projects been replaced?

　　Zhou Zhaoyin, General Manager of Jidong Cement Heilongjiang Company:Hmm.

　　Reporter:When is the replacement?

　　Zhou Zhaoyin, General Manager of Jidong Cement Heilongjiang Company:On March 7th this year, it was announced in the official website of the provincial government.

　　This is the announcement issued by the Heilongjiang Provincial Industry and Information Technology Commission on the website of the Heilongjiang Provincial Government. The main content is the elimination of the equivalent replacement scheme of this project. The reporter found that all the listed eliminated enterprises were eliminated in 2011. However, according to the "Measures for Capacity Replacement" promulgated by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in July 2015, it is clearly required that the excess capacity listed in the announcement in 2013 and beyond can be used for capacity replacement in industries with serious overcapacity. So how can these eliminated capacity in 2011 be included?

　　Reporter:I read the plan announced on March 7, but in that announcement, it was mentioned that all the years of obsolete enterprises were in 2011, right?

　　Zhou Zhaoyin, General Manager of Jidong Cement Heilongjiang Company:I don’t know about that.

　　Reporter:You made this, and you submitted the plan?

　　Zhou Zhaoyin, General Manager of Jidong Cement Heilongjiang Company:We didn’t make this plan.

　　Reporter:Who made the plan?

　　Zhou Zhaoyin, General Manager of Jidong Cement Heilongjiang Company:Then I don’t know this matter.

　　Speaking of the most critical procedure to start construction — — The general manager was suddenly vague about the capacity replacement plan. The reporter then went to the Industrial Policy Department of the Heilongjiang Provincial Industry and Information Committee, which issued this announcement, to understand the situation.

　　Reporter:Why is the production capacity in 2011 obviously inconsistent?

　　Li Xuedong, Director of Industrial Policy Division of Heilongjiang Industry and Information Technology Commission:It must be used as a new project after 13 years, and it must not be used. Considering that it is a problem left over from history in the province, all projects under construction in violation of regulations can use the indicators of 13 years ago.

　　Reporter:But it’s not an illegal project under construction?

　　Li Xuedong, Director of Industrial Policy Division of Heilongjiang Industry and Information Technology Commission:To say the least, it has been under construction since 10 years.

　　According to the director, because this project was first started in 2010, it has not been able to get legal construction for various reasons. Therefore, the province will make an exception when examining and approving, and treat it as an "illegal project under construction". According to relevant policies, if it is an illegal project under construction, the indicators before 2013 can be used. Can this statement stand?

　　The reporter found that at the end of this announcement, the construction project was marked as (new). What is the reason behind this obvious contradiction?

　　Li Xuedong, Director of Industrial Policy Division of Heilongjiang Industry and Information Technology Commission:Mainly considering that the enterprise has invested in the early stage, when we consider studying its announcement, the enterprise has invested more than 700 million yuan, considering that 2010 is a project to attract investment in our province.

　　It is worth noting that compliant capacity replacement is a prerequisite for the enterprise to start construction. Why did this enterprise invest more than 700 million yuan before the announcement of capacity replacement? It turns out that this is the second time that Heilongjiang Provincial Industry and Information Committee has approved the capacity replacement index for Jidong Cement Heilongjiang Project. The first time was in 2014, two years ago, the Heilongjiang Provincial Industry and Information Committee submitted the Letter on Confirming the Use of the Index of Eliminating Backward Production Capacity of Jidong Cement Heilongjiang Co., Ltd. to the Heilongjiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission, and then the Heilongjiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission approved the project accordingly. As a result, the project obtained a "birth certificate" and began to be put into construction. However, this capacity indicator replacement plan was not reported to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology according to the procedure. In September 2014, after investigation, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology sent a letter to the Heilongjiang Provincial Industry and Information Committee, proposing that this project should be regarded as a typical illegal approval project for informed criticism in the whole country. .

　　Li Xuedong, Director of Industrial Policy Division of Heilongjiang Industry and Information Technology Commission:The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology asked the province to cancel this plan, because as far as we know, what was the reason for the main cancellation plan at that time, that is, we did not declare it to the state as required, and made a public announcement. Second, it is possible that some indicators may be reused according to the requirements of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

　　Subsequently, the Heilongjiang Provincial Industry and Information Committee sent a letter to the Heilongjiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission, revoking the Letter on Confirming Jidong Cement Heilongjiang Co., Ltd. to use the index of eliminating backward production capacity. Without the confirmation of the index of eliminating backward production capacity, it also means that this project is "new production capacity", which is strictly prohibited according to the relevant documents of the State Council. However, after more than a year of silence, the project was launched again. At the end of 2015, the bidding advertisement for this project appeared on the Internet, and the project basis was still the approval issued by the Development and Reform Commission of Heilongjiang Province. The Development and Reform Commission of Heilongjiang Province received a letter from the Heilongjiang Provincial Industry and Information Committee revoking the use of indicators to eliminate backward production capacity. It is reasonable to say that the approval of this project should be revoked, but they did not do so. What is going on?

　　Reporter:He revoked the letter. Why did your No.107 document become invalid accordingly?

　　Lin Dayong, Director of Industrial Investment Division of Heilongjiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission:Because later, after the cancellation of the Industry and Information Committee, they have been studying the production capacity index, and the province has been studying this matter and how to solve it after the withdrawal.

　　Reporter:What about the results of later research?

　　Lin Dayong, Director of Industrial Investment Division of Heilongjiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission:I asked the Ministry of industry and information technology, and then I came out with the corresponding documents.

　　The so-called study of the corresponding documents is the announcement made by the Provincial Industry and Information Committee on the Internet in March 2016, which is filled by the outdated elimination indicators in 2011. This behavior is obviously inconsistent with the original intention of the country to go to capacity. In April 2106, the Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology sent a letter to the Heilongjiang Provincial Industry and Information Committee again, pointing out the problems in this scheme and asking them to readjust the capacity replacement scheme of Jidong Cement.

　　Li Xuedong, Director of Industrial Policy Division of Heilongjiang Industry and Information Technology Commission:We require enterprises to replace the same amount according to the requirements of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. At present, our enterprises are also looking for this indicator. We are also communicating with other provinces and looking for it.

　　On the one hand, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a document twice to stop, on the other hand, this project has been under construction. So what is the state of the cement industry in Heilongjiang Province? Is there still market space? The reporter also conducted an investigation in the local area. This is Harbin Xiaoling Cement Company, which is only 10 kilometers away from Jidong Cement Project. The reporter of this company’s factory saw that it was empty and there was no sign of production. The general manager of the company told the reporter that because of poor sales in winter, they stopped working at the end of October. This winter, they will stop working for a total of five months, and employees can only receive half of their wages.

　　50% of the salary, if we remove the deducted personal insurance, we will get very little salary.

　　Reporter:Can you get a part-time job in these five months, or find something else to do?

　　Employees of Harbin Xiaoling Cement Co., Ltd.:Working in Heilongjiang in winter is not easy to find, and most of them are difficult to find employment opportunities.

　　It is understood that the production capacity of Jidong Cement’s new project is equivalent to nearly 50% of the current cement sales in Harbin. Unlike other products, cement is a special product with a very close sales radius. It is undoubtedly worse to have such a big MAC project at home.

　　In this case, why did Jidong Cement insist on investing in this project?

　　Zhou Zhaoyin, General Manager of Jidong Cement Harbin Company:His powder is surplus, and his clinker, because the so-called indicators including the current de-capacity are the indicators of approved clinker. In recent years, Heilongjiang Province refers to clinker, and his total clinker is not surplus.

　　Clinker refers to a semi-finished product for manufacturing cement, and we also investigated the local clinker production. Pennsylvania Cement Co., Ltd. has two clinker production lines with a daily output of 5,000 tons. The general manager of the company told reporters that they need to stop work not only in winter but also this summer because of overcapacity.

　　Zhang Yongsheng, Deputy General Manager of Heilongjiang Binzhou Cement Co., Ltd.:In May this year, it was considered that the whole cement industry in the three northeastern provinces joined forces to limit production and reduce inventory, and stopped production for 20 days from May 15 to June 5, in order to digest the original backlog of inventory.

　　According to the statistical data of Heilongjiang Cement Association at the end of 2015, the utilization rate of cement production in Heilongjiang Province in 2014 was 43.4%, and the clinker project under construction in Jidong Cement was also 71.5%. According to industry standards, it is normal for the utilization rate to be above 80%. Obviously, the local production capacity is seriously surplus.

　　In the interview, Heilongjiang Building Materials Association is calling the cement enterprises in the whole province to hold a coordination meeting of peak-shifting and shutdown in winter, which means that all cement enterprises in the whole province will stop working from December 1.

　　Reporter:Is the purpose of your wrong peak because?

　　Han Shitao, President of Heilongjiang Building Materials Association:There are two practical purposes, one of which is to avoid pollution superposition in the heating period in Northeast China, and the second is actually to control production capacity. It is a necessary measure for us to curb production capacity from the perspective of the industry.

　　Reporter:There are four months of production capacity (excess) in a year.

　　Han Shitao, President of Heilongjiang Building Materials Association:Four months, actually a year is five months.

　　Local insiders believe that Jidong Cement’s violation of regulations comes from the investment inertia of state-owned enterprises. If it was a private enterprise, it would have stopped working long ago.

　　Reporter:What are the deep-seated reasons?

　　Han Shitao, President of Heilongjiang Building Materials Association:Enterprise investment impulse has a kind of inertia. The investment inertia has not been contained. It has not been sober yet. In 2011, preparations began. Up to now, he may have prepared for a long time and made some investments. He has invested, so it is very difficult for him to brake.

　　Reporter:Just tell me about your cement company? What’s your opinion?

　　Head of Yatai Cement:Overcapacity, after he came down, our whole Heilongjiang market was completely destroyed. Now he is in violation of laws and regulations. Now it is in violation of laws and regulations, which does not conform to the policies of the Ministry of Industry and is still on the market.

　　Is there a way for enterprises to realize investment without violating the requirements of de-capacity? In fact, the Building Materials Association has also put forward many suggestions. Enterprises are welcome to invest without increasing production capacity.

　　Han Shitao, President of Heilongjiang Building Materials Association:At that time, we put forward a point of view, that is, to eliminate the backward and non-dominant production capacity around Harbin and replace it with him in the same amount, which is beneficial to the regulation of the whole market.

　　Reporter:He won’t do it?

　　Han Shitao, President of Heilongjiang Building Materials Association:Why? If you want to eliminate these production capacities, you need to take money. Whoever pays this money, there is no better way.

　　It is understood that the total investment of Jidong Cement Harbin Project is as high as 1.7 billion yuan, but it is unwilling to take money to eliminate production capacity, which leads to the delay in completing the compliant production capacity replacement. Following the failure of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to issue a document twice, the General Office of the State Council also issued a document to the Provincial Industry and Information Committee in October this year asking them to rectify as soon as possible.

　　Li Xuedong, Director of Industrial Policy Division of Heilongjiang Industry and Information Technology Commission:This time, the explicit request was contacted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the National Development and Reform Commission, which was sent by the State Council.

　　Reporter:I sent you another message in October?

　　Li Xuedong, Director of Industrial Policy Division of Heilongjiang Industry and Information Technology Commission:They reported it to the State Council, reported it in September, and gave us the news in October.

　　Reporter:Do you have time to ask now?

　　Li Xuedong, Director of Industrial Policy Division of Heilongjiang Industry and Information Technology Commission:Not in time, but we have been actively doing it, and we are trying to finalize this project as soon as possible.

　　Reporter:But will it all be put into production and ignited?

　　Li Xuedong, Director of Industrial Policy Division of Heilongjiang Industry and Information Technology Commission:That can’t be helped.

　　When the reporter left, the project was still under construction.