Future industrial projects to be assessed for risks
Source: Shanghai Daily |
November 13, 2012, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA will require that future industrial projects include assessments of their risk to social stability, following several large protests around the country over pollution, a top official said yesterday.
The government will also increase transparency and public involvement in decisions regarding large projects with potential environmental impact, Minister for Environmental Protection Zhou Shengxian told reporters.
Zhou acknowledged the sensitivity of the issue but said it was natural for such incidents to occur as living standards rise.
"I think it is inevitable that when a society is developed to a certain level, certain phenomena will naturally arise, this is regular. For China ... we are now in a sensitive period especially in terms of environmental issues," he said. "At the same time we are beginning to see a phenomenon called 'not in my backyard.'"
About a week before the congress opened, thousands of residents in the eastern city of Ningbo gathered in front of the municipal government office and marched through the streets to protest at plans for a petrochemical plant expansion.
Other recent protests have targeted a waste-water pipeline in Jiangsu Province and a copper plant in Sichuan Province.
In some cases, local authorities have scrapped or shelved plans for projects, but some local officials, under pressure to deliver economic growth, often restart them once the outrage dies down.
The government will also increase transparency and public involvement in decisions regarding large projects with potential environmental impact, Minister for Environmental Protection Zhou Shengxian told reporters.
Zhou acknowledged the sensitivity of the issue but said it was natural for such incidents to occur as living standards rise.
"I think it is inevitable that when a society is developed to a certain level, certain phenomena will naturally arise, this is regular. For China ... we are now in a sensitive period especially in terms of environmental issues," he said. "At the same time we are beginning to see a phenomenon called 'not in my backyard.'"
About a week before the congress opened, thousands of residents in the eastern city of Ningbo gathered in front of the municipal government office and marched through the streets to protest at plans for a petrochemical plant expansion.
Other recent protests have targeted a waste-water pipeline in Jiangsu Province and a copper plant in Sichuan Province.
In some cases, local authorities have scrapped or shelved plans for projects, but some local officials, under pressure to deliver economic growth, often restart them once the outrage dies down.
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