Heating resumes in NE China city after 3 days

HARBIN - A heating system malfunction that froze some 23,000 households in Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, for three days was corrected Monday night.

Local resident Wang Ri reported that indoor temperatures had climbed to 18 degrees Celsius Tuesday morning.

Known as China's "ice city," Harbin was hit by two blizzards following Friday's heat disruption, with outdoor temps dropping to almost negative 20 degrees Celsius over a three-day period.

The municipal heating supply office said the failure was caused by cracked heating pipes that were in a state of disrepair.

Song Xibin, mayor of Harbin, has urged a thorough overhaul of the city's heating pipeline system as a result of the incident.

Wang Xin, general manager of Harbin Heating Supply Co Ltd., said that although the city has already asked heating companies to fix the pipes, many of the companies lack the funds to do so because of increasing costs for thermal power generation.

Wang said similar heating failures will likely happen again if no immediate solutions are presented.