‘Dead air’: Villagers protesting against Chinese bleached pulp plant near Svetlahorsk


In the run-up to the construction of a bleached pulp plant in Svetlahorsk, the Belarusian authorities promised 500 new jobs, predicted profitable exports sales and supplying the country’s need for paper.

But the locals are raising alarm: on December 25, the resident of Yakimava Slabada village have protested against the ‘smelly plant’ being too close to them. They want the the problem be solved immediately.

“Let it work this plant, but at least some filters should be installed. They have turned the village into a death valley!” a participant of the spontaneous rally says.

“To have some walk, we should go to Svetlahorsk, because there is overpowering stench in the village. But for PVC window profiles, I do not know where we would be. The air is so dead that I am afraid for my children. And we have nowhere to go,” a woman, who came to the protest with a child, says.

“Thanks to our leadership and government for this job-giving plant, due to which I am short of breath by night,” a resident of the village says with a sad irony.

The sulfate bleached pulp plant is based at the Svetlogorsk Pulp and Paper Mill. As a raw material the plant uses Belarusian timber and timber processing waste. China’s National Engineering Corporation Sinomach Ren Hongbin was the general contractor for the construction of the Belarusian plant.

belsat.eu

TWITTER