Electricity checks for embassy area

By Meng Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-02-23 10:02

As many as 114 foreign embassies are primed to have their electricity supply facilities checked in a bid to ensure a steady supply of power.

The move was sparked by Chaoyang Power Company and Beijing Service Bureau for Diplomatic Missions (DSB) in mid-February. According to DSB's plan, the evaluation will begin in early March, covering all embassies with official premises in the district.

Apart from the evaluation, the power company will also start offering bilingual receipts to foreign embassies. From 2009, the Chaoyang Power Company began offering special services targeting important clients.

"We regard those who strongly rely on a steady power supply as our key clients. Maintaining constant flow to buildings like hospitals is top of our agenda," a spokeswoman surnamed Li from Chaoyang Power Company's press office said yesterday.

"Due to the special political status of foreign embassies, their power supply is also our major concern," Li added.

Wang Xiaoyan, director of the DSB's infrastructures department, said the evaluation is necessary. She noted that the development of the embassy area started in the 1950s, most significantly in Jianwai and Sanlitun.

"After 2003, the government started investing a lot of money to upgrade the outdoor power supply facilities in and around the embassy area - the whole project will be completed by the end of this year," Wang said yesterday.

"Once the new facilities start operating, the modern outdoor facilities may have issues with the out-of-date equipment inside some embassies," Wang warned yesterday.

According to the DSB's schedule, Chaoyang Power Company will evaluate three embassies every day. However, Wang has concerns.

"This is our first time to organize this kind of evaluation and we are inexperienced. We need to inform embassies first and ask for their permission. We can only move on to the next stage after getting their feedback," he said.

Zhang Yue, in charge of the project, expressed the same concern. He said in theory the evaluation wouldn't affect the power supply, but it might be necessary in order to run tests.

In Beijing, 45 foreign embassies of the 114 own their properties, while the majority rent them from the government.

Phone calls were made to British Embassy, Australian Embassy and American Embassy yesterday. All three press offices declined to comment on the evaluation, saying they haven't received any information.