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The project – a joint-venture between Sinopec and Kuwait National
Petroleum Company said to be the largest local-foreign investment in
China – has been planned to be built in Nansha, a wetland-rich area
near Guangzhou city. The wetlands are home to thousands of species of
birds and mangroves.
Preparations for its construction appeared to have started before final
approval, claimed Guangdong province People's Congress member Liu
Yiling, who said the project had yet to obtain the Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) approval.
Moreover, she added, the project was against local regulations, namely
one that designated Nansha as an ecologically fragile area unsuitable
for highly polluting industries.
Liu and 13 other legislators had jointly submitted a memorandum urging
for the project to be put on hold at the province's Political
Consultative Conference held at the end of January. The memorandum came
about after the legislators found out that the project had been slated
as a priority project under the province's 2008 Economic and Social
Development Program.
"The project is located in the centre of the Pearl River Delta, thus
will have far reaching impacts on surrounding cities like Guangzhou,
Shenzhen, Zhongshan, Dongguan, and even Hong Kong," claimed Liu,
stressing that it would aggravate air and water pollution in the region.
Liu is also the director of the Guangdong Environment Protection
Center, and a member of the of National People's Congress Environment
and Resources Committee.
Some officials, however, disagreed with the pollution concern. Director
of Guangdong's Development and Reform Committee Pan Jianguo said that
the emission assessment for this project would follow the highest
international standards. The deputy director of Nansha district, Liu
Jianwe, also believed the project would not bring air pollution in
Guangzhou. He said vegetation surrounding the project area would absorb
air pollution.
Their reassurances did not smooth Liu's apprehensions, however. She
said the surrounding forests could not solve any pollution problems on
their own--only with green technology could it be mitigated.
On January first, Guangzhou's Development and Reform Commission
published a notice that Nansha Petrochemical Base would possibly bring
water, air, and solid waste as well as do ecological damage. It
resolved to deal with the problem by using advanced equipment according
to international standards to reduce pollution levels.
The central government decided to base the project in Guangdong after
the province experienced its most serious oil shortage in history in
2005. Local government began inviting public bids for the land in
January 2007.
Coordinated by Sinopec and the Kuwait National Petroleum Company
(KNPC), it would replace the Shell Petrochemicals' Huizhou project as
the biggest joint venture project in China. It is planned to have 12
million tons of petroleum refining capability per year.
Industry insiders claimed the investment for the project would bring in
90 billion dollars in returns. With the plant in Guangzhou, the income
of petrochemical manufacturing industry would reach 800 billion yuan in
2020.
Nansha in southern Guangdong stands at the crossroads of the Pearl
River delta, a nexus between other delta cities and Hong Kong and Macao
through Nansha harbor and the Jingzhu Expressway.
PetrolWorld 040308 Local Media Source
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