SPC hears proposal on chemical transport

Jinshan district delegates at the Shanghai People's Congress (SPC) Monday urged the local government to impose stricter measures to ensure the safe transportation of hazardous chemicals.

The 14 delegates submitted the proposal in response to a chemical spill that occurred on January 10 in a river in the town of Zhujing, causing authorities to temporarily shut off the tap water of 30,000 residents and office workers.

"I felt it was urgent to bring up the issue, not only because there are lot of factories that use dangerous chemicals in Jinshan district, but also because the existing rules governing dangerous chemicals are incomplete," said Cai Leiying, the delegate in charge of the proposal, who also serves as the head of the district's water authority.

There are 1,163 companies and factories in the district that store, produce or transport dangerous chemicals, according to Cai's proposal. Of those, 547 factories use the chemicals for manufacturing and 504 companies sell them.

"Because one of the city's largest chemical industrial zones is in the district, these hazardous chemicals are highly mobile, which increases the likelihood of accidents during transport," Cai told the Global Times.

Jinshan district has 26 companies that are legally registered to transport hazardous chemicals. About 11,000 tons of chemicals are transported in the district every day. That means that one vehicle carrying dangerous chemicals sets out every 1.6 minutes in the district.

While researching the proposal, Cai said she found inadequate supervision over companies that transport hazardous chemicals in Shanghai, many of which are based outside the city.

According to a survey of 165 local companies, nearly half of respondents hire non-local companies to transport their chemicals because their services are cheaper, Cai said.

"It is difficult for local authorities to determine whether these vehicles meet safety standards for hauling hazardous substances," she said. "This also poses a safety risk."

Cai recommended that the city government take measures such as requiring non-local vehicles that transport dangerous substances to register with local authorities.