Liquid Assets II - Industrial Relocation in Guangdong Province: Avoid Repeating Mistakes
How Heyuan manages its water is critical not only to the security of the Dongjiang, but also the entire Pearl River Basin. Any crisis that strikes the Dongjiang will be a crisis for all of Guangdong, as well as Hong Kong. Without a doubt, Heyuan must be a focal point of attention and protection for Guangdong and Hong Kong. 4.2 Hidden risks of high-pollution processes in high-tech production lines High-tech industries are generally regarded as having low emissions. The provincial government has encouraged their relocation, and local governments clamour for them, hoping to form larger and more powerful high-tech clusters. Heyuan has labeled four high-tech industries as the “four news”: new electronics, new energy, new materials, and new pharmaceuticals. Taking the “new energy” sector as an example, Heyuan wants to “focus on building a new energy industry based on second-generation solar photovoltaic technology, with an emphasis on solar energy and LED lighting technology”. Heyuan plans to “utilise the area's unique high-quality quartz resources to develop a complete supply chain from mining to glass to thin film panels, and hopes to construct a large scale base for the new energy industry.” 65 Many steps along this production chain can create large-scale environmental damage and pollution. Heyuan's publicly announced goals of “creating mountains of wealth” while “preserving clear waters and green mountains” may be in direct conflict with each other. 4.3 Clean assembly of end products does not mean clean production of the entire chain Heyuan has identified 3G portable communication devices as a development opportunity. The emphasis is on advanced portable end-user devices, especially 3G smart phones. To date, Heyuan has already attracted 10 mobile phone handset manufacturers as well as 25 manufacturers of handset parts. In 2009, these companies produced a total of 14.8 million handsets. 66 In 2010, this number leaped to 34 million units, which means that 34 million printed circuit boards (PCBs) were also supplied or produced in Heyuan. Production steps in PCB manufacture such as electroplating and chemical etching use materials such as copper, nickel and chromium, which create heavy metal pollution. An investigation revealed that large PCB manufacturers cannot reliably meet emissions standards. Using Shenzhen as an example, a spokesman for the Shenzhen Municipal Residential Environment Committee claimed: “In 2009, PCB manufacturers illegally and directly discharged pollutants. Their standards-exceeding emissions show no sign of stopping despite repeated warnings, and they continue to use fraudulent methods to appear as if they are meeting standards. These actions are the primary culprit behind the ongoing heavy metal pollution of Shenzhen's waterways.” 67
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