Chinese industrial park where chemical factory blast happened ‘opened in a rush’
- Engineer who has worked with the facility and the pesticide plant alleges the park was set up without a proper planning process
- He also accuses local authorities of turning a blind eye to the safety risks after receiving bribes, official newspaper reports
The industrial park in eastern China where an explosion 10 days ago killed at least 78 people was allegedly set up without a proper planning process, and local officials have been accused of taking bribes in exchange for ignoring the safety risks there.
That’s according to an engineer who has worked closely with the Chenjiagang Industrial Park in Xiangshui county, Yancheng, and the Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical plant where the accident happened.
The engineer told official newspaper Beijing Youth Daily on Friday that the industrial park was opened in a rush, without going through adequate planning, in 2007 to house heavily polluting factories that had been moved from other areas.
He also said the park’s use of trucks to transport natural gas to power the factories instead of a pipeline was a safety risk.
In addition, the park did not have facilities to process solid waste, he told the newspaper. Factories were instead allowed to build incinerators on spare land – some of them located next to gas tanks – in order to meet stricter environmental requirements imposed by the central government in recent years, the report said.
