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China Town Goes From Model To Mess
Beijing (AFP) July 19, 2007 A Chinese town that has won more than 30 awards for its clean environment over the past decade has become a heavily polluted cesspool with abnormally high cancer rates, state media said Thursday. The town of Dawang in eastern Shandong province has won accolades including "China's Most Livable New Township", but recent development spurt has made a mockery of those awards, the Beijing News reported. An investigation by the newspaper found that the town was choked by smog and water pollution due to years of "illegal operations" by industrial companies based there. "Within the town, not a single ditch with pure water is to be found, air pollution is serious, and groundwater pollution is another source of concern," the paper said. Provincial government studies of the town's water in April found chemical oxygen demand levels -- a measure of water pollution -- nearly three times normal. The local government has undertaken a development push in recent years and the town now has a large paper plant, chemical facility and tyre manufacturer. But authorities have failed to take steps to mitigate rising industrial pollution, the report said. Residents living near the paper plant told the newspaper that of 50 nearby residents who have died since 1999, 30 died of cancer. A spokesman for the town's Communist Party committee dismissed the pollution concerns. "Industrialisation has been fast, so increased pollution is to be expected. What's the big deal?" Bu Chunyan was quoted as telling the paper.
earlier related report Bahrain-based Gulf Finance House, an Islamic investment bank, and Gulf Energy, an international firm that invests in the energy sector, made the announcement in Beijing, a statement said. Located in the Yanjiao business district, 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the heart of Beijing, the 13.4 square kilometre Energy City China development will be a purpose-built business and residential district for Asia's leading energy companies, the statement said. A letter of intent was signed for the project, which will cost up to five billion dollars, and feature an energy databank, a financial service centre and an International Mercantile Exchange. The statement did not say when the development would be completed, but that it was the third in a series planned by Gulf Finance House and Gulf Energy. The two others, unveiled last year, are in Qatar and India.
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Rats Not Welcome As They Flee Flooded Homes In China
Beijing (AFP) July 11, 2007Two billion rats that have fled their flooded homes are on the march in central China, destroying farmland and posing a health risk to humans, state press reported Wednesday. The rats have spread out across 20 counties in central Hunan province, gnawing on crops and roots as they search for new homes, the China Daily said. Locals have launched a massive counter-attack, beating rats to death with shovels and spreading out loads of poison. One district reported that residents there had killed 2.3 million rats alone, according to the paper. |
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