Cigarette Making Enterprise in Quake-Striven Area to be Relocated to New Site

Source from:  Mianyang City 06/18/2008

The Mianyang Branch Cigarette Factory of Sichuan-Chongqing Regional China Tobacco Industry Corporation, which lies in Mianyang City of southwest China's Sichuan Province hit hard by a devastating earthquake on May 12, will be relocated to a new site in a project of large-scale technical transformation. On June 13, the new site of the Mianyang Branch Cigarette Factory was eventually chosen, signifying the start of implementation of the project of technical transformation that will lead to the enlargement of the factory's annual cigarette production capacity to 300,000 cases (15 billion cigarettes). In accordance with the instruction of Director-General Jiang Chengkang of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) to start implementation of the project of technical transformation as early as possible and in an imperative manner, General Manager Wu Yinglu and Deputy General Manager Wu Xianyi of Sichuan-Chongqing Regional China Tobacco Industry Corporation, accompanied by Secretary Tan Li of the Chinese Communist Party's Mianyang City Committee, have led a delegation to conduct an inspection of the new site and held talks with staff members and workers of the factory on issues of common concern. During the talks, Wu Yinglu said that, in implementation of the requirement of the STMA to build the factory into an advanced, first-rate and model cigarette making enterprise, Sichuan-Chongqing Regional China Tobacco Industry Corporation will go all out to reconstruct the Mianyang Branch Cigarette Factory and accelerate its development in the wake of the devastating earthquake. The magnitute-8 earthquake has caused serious damage to buildings, bridges and other public facilities in an area of more than 100,000 square kilometers both in Sichuan and its neighboring regions. Quake-related losses to companies totaled 67 billion yuan (9.5 billion U.S. dollars), Deputy Industry Minister Xi Guohua said recently. Seriously affected by the earthquake, Mianyang City is just 50 kilometers away from the epicenter. For the Mianyang Branch Cigarette Factory, it sustained widespread damage from the earthquake, with the workshop buildings ruptured or collapsed, and with its production equipment damaged to different extents. The factory's central air conditioning system, power system, electricity supply system, water supply system, drainage system and support production facilities were seriously damaged. On June 11, STMA Director-General Jiang Chengkang led a delegation to inspect the work of disaster relief and reconstruction on the part of the local tobacco industry. During the inspection, Jiang pledged that the STMA will do all it can to support implementation of the project of technical transformation of the Mianyang Branch Cigarette Factory, in order that it will become a modern and first-rate cigarette making enterprise. Sichuan-Chongqing Regional China Tobacco Industry Corporation is the operator of the tobacco industries in Sichuan and its neighboring Chongqing City. Both are important tobacco-producing regions in southwest China. Enditem