Replica village angers residents
By Lydia Chen |
June 25, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
WORK is under way to build an exact copy of a picturesque Austrian village in southern China, transforming the local environment and incurring the wrath of local residents.
The National Business Daily claimed that natural resources in Boluo County, Guangdong Province, are at risk from the development.
It said a mountain in Boluo County was now almost half hollowed out while trees were being cut down to make way for the Hallstatt village copy.
The original village is a scenic jewel, a hamlet of hill-hugging chalets, elegant church spires and ancient inns all reflected in the deep still waters of an Alpine lake.
The newspaper's report said that more than 20 bulldozers, along with up to 100 workers and numerous trucks, were now working on the Boluo project, digging earth out of the mountain and dumping it where there used to be a large area of wetland.
A villager surnamed Zeng told the newspaper that construction work had led to conflicts. At one point, villagers tried to block trucks going to and from the site because they were furious at the dust and noise they caused, damaging the environment, Zeng said.
However, a local government official surnamed Li said all procedures involved in the project were legal and they had not received any complaints about environmental damage. Anything that threatened the environment would not be tolerated.
A villager who had the fishing rights to the lake in the village has had to give up his business, the newspaper said, so the stretch of water could resemble Hallstatt's lake.
The project is being advertised by Minmetals Land, the real estate development arm of China Minmetals Corp, as a residential development "surrounded by mountains with mountain and lake views," to be built "in a European architectural style, with a commercial street built with the characteristics of an Austrian-style town."
However, no matter how closely the project resembles its Austrian original, there will be something missing.
"Hallstatt has a centuries-old culture," Hallstatt Mayor Alexander Scheutz said when he heard of the project.
He added: "This is something you cannot copy."
The National Business Daily claimed that natural resources in Boluo County, Guangdong Province, are at risk from the development.
It said a mountain in Boluo County was now almost half hollowed out while trees were being cut down to make way for the Hallstatt village copy.
The original village is a scenic jewel, a hamlet of hill-hugging chalets, elegant church spires and ancient inns all reflected in the deep still waters of an Alpine lake.
The newspaper's report said that more than 20 bulldozers, along with up to 100 workers and numerous trucks, were now working on the Boluo project, digging earth out of the mountain and dumping it where there used to be a large area of wetland.
A villager surnamed Zeng told the newspaper that construction work had led to conflicts. At one point, villagers tried to block trucks going to and from the site because they were furious at the dust and noise they caused, damaging the environment, Zeng said.
However, a local government official surnamed Li said all procedures involved in the project were legal and they had not received any complaints about environmental damage. Anything that threatened the environment would not be tolerated.
A villager who had the fishing rights to the lake in the village has had to give up his business, the newspaper said, so the stretch of water could resemble Hallstatt's lake.
The project is being advertised by Minmetals Land, the real estate development arm of China Minmetals Corp, as a residential development "surrounded by mountains with mountain and lake views," to be built "in a European architectural style, with a commercial street built with the characteristics of an Austrian-style town."
However, no matter how closely the project resembles its Austrian original, there will be something missing.
"Hallstatt has a centuries-old culture," Hallstatt Mayor Alexander Scheutz said when he heard of the project.
He added: "This is something you cannot copy."
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