Topic: China to relocate almost 1,000 chemical plants in wake of Tianjin blasts (Read 319 times)

Industry minister, Miao Wei, says local government and companies involved would have to subsidise plans made to help improve pollution levels

Local governments in China have submitted plans to relocate or upgrade almost 1,000 chemical plants in the wake of the massive explosions in Tianjin earlier this month that killed 147 people.

The blast at a warehouse storing toxic chemicals was China’s worst industrial accident in recent years. There has been criticism it was located too close to densely populated residential areas.

China’s industry minister, Miao Wei, said local governments were finally moving ahead to implement plans to relocate and upgrade chemical plants.

“We started to work with State Administration of Work Safety last year to make arrangements for the relocation and revamping of chemical plants in densely populated urban areas. Frankly, our work is not actively supported locally in the past year,” Miao was quoted by the Communist party-run People’s Daily newspaper.

According to the department’s summary, about 1,000 chemical plants need to be relocated or upgraded at a total cost of around 400bn yuan (£40.6bn).

Miao said local government and the companies involved would have to take care of part of the cost while central government would provide support. He said he wanted to “accelerate the relocation and revamping”, which would help to improve pollution and emission levels

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/30/china-relocate-chemical-plants-tianjin-blasts-miao-wei-pollution