Govt, residents communicate over trash incinerator

A south China county government on Sunday held a meeting with residents over a proposed trash incinerator project that triggered concerns and protests.

The meeting between the government of Boluo county and some 30 representatives of local residents was aimed at "carefully listening to people's opinions and suggestions" about the project, said a statement issued by the government of Huizhou city of Guangdong Province, which administers Boluo.

More than 200 people gathered outside the county government building while the meeting was underway, and they left at noon, the statement said, giving no details of the meeting.

Rumors among Huizhou residents claimed that the site of a planned ecological project has already been decided and the project was under construction.

A spokesman with the Huizhou city government said earlier that the project will include trash recycling, landfill, incineration and biological treatment facilities.

On Saturday, more than 1,000 people gathered at a square in Boluo county over concerns about site selection for the project.

Roads were not blocked and there were no extreme behaviors, such as smashing or looting, during the mass gathering, the spokesman said, adding that the crowd dispersed around 11:30 a.m. the same day.

A draft of the plan was published in the Huizhou Daily on August 16 and will be posted on the city's housing and construction bureau website for one month. Specialist agencies are also conducting survey and evaluation work on the project's environmental implications and geological conditions.

The spokesman said that government authorities will hold hearings with the participation of local residents and experts. The final decision will be made in accordance with the law and legal procedures.

The municipal government of Huizhou will give full attention to the site selection and is soliciting opinions from all sides to make a law-based scientific decision, he added.

He said he hopes the public can remain rational and express opinions and appeals in a peaceful way.

Incinerators are considered the most feasible and effective means for Chinese cities to dispose of massive amounts of garbage.

The Huizhou mass protest follows another protest by hundreds of residents in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province over an incinerator project.

Protests began in April when the Hangzhou municipal government released information about the incinerator.

Local government authorities promised construction would not start without public support and before going through the legal process.