URUMQI - A six-kilometer path specially built for coal transport has been completed in northwest Takeshiken, the second largest port at the China-Mongolia border, as the import of coal from Mongolia picks up, local officials said Wednesday.

The project was first proposed by Mongolia in April over fears that increased truck hauling of coal might damage trade routes. Mongolia Energy Corporation Limited undertook the project and finished it at the end of July, officials said.

The Takeshiken port, located in the town of Takeshiken in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, imported 5,000 tons of raw coal from Mongolia in the first three months this year, official statistics show. Xinjiang, one of China's key energy and heavy industry bases, is estimated to be short of 1.6 million tons of charred coal for industrial use every year.

China has a huge demand for energy sources. The latest statistics available show that the demand for coal reached 3 billion tons in 2009. In 2010, 146 million tons of coal were imported, a 40.9-percent increase

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 , according to the National Energy Bureau.