Power station unwanted by community

• Source: Global Times
• [08:52 July 22 2010]
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By Chen Xiaoru

Residents in Minhang district have filed complaints to the city's electricity authority, after the district officials responsible for informing them of new projects in their community failed to notify them of a power station currently under construction some 20 meters away from their homes.

According to resident Dai Tianqiu, no one was told about plans for the Hengjing power station before construction began in March. He added that residents are concerned the station, which is scheduled to be complete next month and is expected to produce an additional 35 kilovolts of power to the area to support the community, will bring health hazards to them.

"We might be in danger of radiation once it starts operating since we live so close to the station," Dai told the Global Times Wednesday. "No one came to seek our input before the building started; if we had known about it before we would have definitely opposed the project."

According to the Public Hearing Regulations of Urban Construction and Administration issued by the central government in 2004, public opin-ions should be gathered before projects relating to public profits are approved.

The Beijie neighborhood committee in Minhang that falls under the district level of government, which is appointed to oversee the residential area near the station, however, admitted to the Global Times Wednesday that they knew about the project beforehand.

"The Party secretary of our committee knew about the project before it started, but she didn't gather the residents together for a vote on it," Zhou Yi, vice director of the committee, told the Global Times Wednesday. He said that he was unaware of further details.

According to Zhou, there are currently some 1,200 households situated within close proximity to the station.

But the city's electricity authority, Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Company, said that the station poses zero health dangers to the nearby residents.

"There is hardly any electromagnetic radiation caused by the station, and other elements, including the electric field and the magnetic field, are strictly controlled in compliance with the national standard," a press officer surnamed Wang, who preferred to only give his surname, told the Global Times.

He further defended the construction of the station, saying that the project was earlier approved by municipal urban planning authorities.