JA Solar without environmental report?
China’s JA Solar Vietnam project had to stop construction after the investor was found not to have prepared the necessary environmental impact assessment.
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Nguyen Anh Quyen, head of the Bac Giang Management Board of Industrial Zones where the US$280-million JA Solar is located, admitted at a local conference that JA Solar had started construction before its environmental impact report was approved.
On November 27, 2016, the JA Solar Vietnam plant officially started construction at Quang Chau Industrial Park in Viet Yen district.
The start violated procedures. It is reported that the investor submitted the document requesting approval for its environmental impact assessment report to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on February 20, 2017. The results will be released in April 5, 2017.
The government is tightening supervision of environmental protection measures after the scandal caused by a unit of Taiwanese conglomerate Formosa Plastics.
“We should not trade the environment for overambitious goals,” Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc previously stressed.
JA Solar has not disclosed other details related to the plant’s capacity, but said it is expected to create 3,000 jobs during the construction period. Once they start the plant, a revenue of US$5 billion will be generated every year.
