BEIJING, Feb. 19 -- Chemical and polluting
companies in the Guangdong provincial capital will be moved out of urban areas over
the next eight years, the city's deputy mayor said in Guangzhou
yesterday.
"In total, 279 firms will be moved, 119 of
which will go before 2010," Gan Xin said.
The move is part of the city's urban reconstruction
plan launched in December, he said.
Most of the relocated companies will be replaced by
service industries.
Those to be moved include a number of large-scale,
State-owned firms such as the Guangzhou Paper Group Ltd and the Guangzhou
Baiyunshan Jigong Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, Gan said.
The companies to be moved were named by the municipal
government after more than two years of study.
They were chosen for violating national and local
environmental protection regulations relating to emissions, sewage, noise and
solid waste, and seriously affecting people's living conditions, the deputy
mayor said.
Companies that correct their polluting habits within
a set period of time will be exempted, he said.
Chemical factories and warehouses in urban areas that
are unable to meet work safety and urban planning regulations have also been
included in the scheme.
Of the 119 firms to be relocated by 2010, 48 of them
are chemical companies, while 53 are State-owned enterprises.
A further 160 companies will be moved out of the
urban district by 2015, 59 of them chemical firms.
Gan said the government will provide about 200
million yuan ($28 million) to help the firms relocate and build new factories
for them in 11 industrial development zones in Zengcheng, Huadu, Conghua and
Nansha districts, which are far from the city's urban areas.
The area vacated by the firms will be used for
developing the service industry, Gan said, with the real estate industry
excluded from using the land.
"The urban district has expanded significantly over
the past two decades, so that factories and chemical plants that were once
located outside it are now included within it," Li Xin, deputy director of the
Guangzhou municipal environment protection bureau, said.
He said the relocated factories in the industrial
development zones should be managed to prevent polluting their new environment.
(Source: China Daily)
