Petrochemical projects needs environmental evaluation

The Guangdong government should pay close attention to an environmental evaluation before making any decision on the building of a petrochemical project, as ecological pressure along the coast heightens.

Capital input should be boosted to ensure the building of facilities for emergency pollution handling, Liang Jianwei, a member of the Guangdong committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference said in his proposal presented at the annual session of the committee, which opens on Jan 23.

The coastal areas of Guangdong house more than 90 crude oil processing or oil product enterprises, with potentially hazardous cargo throughput at ports topping more than 270 million metric tons a year.

Some petrochemical giants are building or expanding refineries in Guangdong.

The increasing petrochemical warehouses and vessels carrying hazardous cargos pose rapidly heightened risks of pollution both on land and in the water.

The pollution handling facilities fall far behind the development of the petrochemical industry, Liang said.