Strengthen safety supervision in chemical industrial parks and strictly control the planning and layout of projects

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About 30% of chemical industrial parks do not have safety monitoring platforms, and only around one-third of them are equipped with facilities for handling hazardous waste. This is information obtained by a reporter from the Economic Reference News at the 2019 Petrochemical Industry Development Conference held on April 10. 　　In addition to risks related to safety and environmental protection, the issue of overcapacity in industries such as refining is also severe. In response to this situation, regulatory measures will be introduced, leading to changes in the structure of the chemical industry. Among these, chemical industrial parks will undergo evaluation and assessment. The relocation and transformation of hazardous chemicals enterprises in the Yangtze River Economic Belt is set to be completed to 70% by the end of the year, while relevant departments will formulate a new catalog for the development of new chemical materials; sectors such as aerospace, which are considered weak areas, will receive support. 　　Stricter oversight of work safety: Following Jiangsu’s plan to carry out industry-wide safety inspections, Shandong, another major chemical-producing province, has also decided to launch a three-month special enforcement campaign across the province starting on April 9th, focusing on key areas such as hazardous chemicals, coal mines, non-coal mines, fire safety, and metallurgical industries. This is just the beginning. “This year, we have made safe production the top priority for the high-quality development of the entire industry, and at the beginning of the year we launched a special campaign to conduct self-inspections and random checks on safe production management in key industries and enterprises. ”Li Shousheng, president of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, said that small and medium-sized enterprises, which are numerous and widespread, still face many issues related to safety management. 　　Data provided by a responsible official from the Petrochemical Division of the Raw Materials Industry Department under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology show that, based on preliminary assessments, there are 676 chemical industrial parks across the country; those with an output value of over 50 billion yuan account for about 7%, while those with an output value of less than 10 billion yuan account for about 60%. In terms of infrastructure, nearly 9% of the parks lack centralized wastewater treatment facilities; around 30% do not have safety monitoring platforms in place, and only about one-third of the parks are equipped with systems for handling hazardous waste. It is reported that this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will work together with relevant departments to establish comprehensive evaluation standards for chemical industrial parks as soon as possible, carry out assessments of regional safety risks in such parks, identify potential hazards one by one, and actively promote the recognition, renovation, and improvement of chemical industrial parks in provinces with strong chemical industries such as Shandong and Hebei, to ensure a rational planning and layout. 　　The relocation and renovation of hazardous chemicals enterprises will also accelerate. By the end of 2018, provinces had reported a total of 1,176 enterprises undergoing relocation or renovation; of these, 479 were relocated to other locations, 360 were renovated on-site, and 337 were shut down. Among them, there are 1,089 small and medium-sized enterprises as well as large enterprises with significant risk factors, while 574 enterprises in the 11 provinces of the Yangtze River Economic Belt are undergoing relocation and transformation. According to Wang Wei, director of the Raw Materials Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the level of the leadership team responsible for the relocation and renovation of hazardous chemicals enterprises will be raised to the ministerial level this year, and a meeting will be held in the near future. At the same time, research will be conducted on the relocation and transformation of hazardous chemicals enterprises in key areas and along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, in order to accelerate this process; the goal is to achieve a 70% completion rate by the end of 2019. 　　“2019 was a year with an extremely heavy workload of relocation and renovation tasks. ”The aforementioned official explained that for projects involving cross-regional relocation and renovation in industries with excess production capacity or industries subject to restrictions, it is generally permissible to resolve such issues through capacity reduction or equivalent replacement; meanwhile, it is strictly prohibited for hazardous chemicals enterprises to relocate within one kilometer of the main channels of the Yangtze River or its major tributaries. In addition, it is necessary to coordinate and optimize the support provided by policy funds, establish platforms to facilitate connections between enterprises undergoing relocation and financial institutions, explore the creation of market-based funds for relocation and renovation, and encourage broad participation from private capital.