Locals protest PetroChina project in Sichuan

05 May 2008 11:12  [Source: ICIS news]

SHANGHAI (ICIS news)--Over 200 people in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province are protesting the construction of a large-scaled petrochemical project citing potential air and water pollution, local papers and websites said on Monday.

The PetroChina project would be located in Pengzhou, northwest of Chengdu. Construction of the 800,000 tonne/year ethylene plant began in early 2006 with an investment of yuan (CNY)21bn ($3bn) and was expected to come on stream in 2009.

"Chengdu is a basin and the polluted air would be difficult to flow out. The project will give us much pollution when it is completed," said a local resident who believed that the project could also be moved out of Chengdu like the paraxylene (PX) project in Xiamen.

"I didn’t know [about] the project until recently, but I think the government would not stop it as it can drive local economy to a large extent," another local resident said.

The project was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission at the end of 2005 after nearly 17 years of research, a local government website said.

"The residents are not clear about the pollution level and we should believe in science and experts. We spent many years to confirm the rationality and feasibility of the project and we will try our best to reduce the pollution," an official from Chengdu municipal government said.

The project had passed the state’s environmental assessment in 2005 and the protest would not affect the construction of the plant, he added.

Construction on a 10m tonne/year refinery, a complementary project for the ethylene plant, which received official approval last month, would likely begin in the first half of this year, according to local papers.

($1=CNY6.99)

By: Judith Wang
+65 6780 4359

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