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Article

30 Jul 2009

Author:
Tom Mitchell, Financial Times

China bows to activist pressure over refinery

China has taken the unusual step of moving a $5bn refinery and petrochemical plant, one of the country’s biggest foreign investment projects, after a public outcry…Wang Yang, party secretary of Guangdong province…attributed the decision to shift the joint venture project of Sinopec, the Chinese state owned refiner, and Kuwait Petroleum Corp, to “strong criticism from the community”. “This reflects how Guangdong values environmental protection, the ecology and the opinions of our citizens,” said Mr Wang...The plant was to be built in southern Guangzhou... Last year, 14 delegates to the provincial people’s congress filed a motion opposing the refinery on the grounds that it could worsen regional air pollution. That opposition emboldened environmental officials, who also began to question the project’s suitability pending the completion of an environmental impact report.