Beijing: China on Saturday cancelled the licence for the construction of a Japanese pollution discharge pipeline project in eastern Jiangsu province after protests by local people over fears that it may discharge pollutant water.
Thousands of people took to the streets in Qidong city in the early hours of Saturday to protest against a Japanese company’s alleged pollution discharge in the nearby sea, Chinese state run Xinhua news agency reported.
Pic used for representational purposes only. Getty Images
It is not clear whether the project was aimed at discharging treated water.
People gathered at about 5 am (local time) to protest Oji Paper Group plan to build a pollution discharge pipeline to nearby sea waters.
The police did not interfere with the demonstration, the report said.
The construction of the planned pollution discharge pipeline project will be cancelled permanently, said Zhang Guohua, the mayor of Nantong City, which administers Qidong said at a televised speech.
Protesters dispersed after the live broadcast of the televised speech, the report said.
A Qidong municipal government spokesperson said that the construction of the planned pollution discharge channel had been suspended.
The government will further investigate and evaluate the project, the spokesperson said.
The Oji Paper Group, one of Japan’s largest paper manufacturing company, issued a statement on its website on Friday that the polluted water after purifying treatment conforms to the national standard.
PTI
