Principal landholder was not told about Guangdong uranium plant
Businessman from Taiwan with 50-year lease on farm only learned of plan from other villagers who would be affected
The biggest landholder at a site designated for a uranium processing plant in Jiangmen , Guangdong, said he has not been approached by local officials about turning over his land.
Tsai Wen-chin, a Taiwanese businessman who signed a 50-year lease with the local government in 1998 for 20 hectares of farmland in a remote village in Jiangmen's Zhishan township, said he had been told about the nuclear fuel plant by other villagers who would be affected by it.
I haven't received any formal notice from the township government about whether they will take back my land
"I haven't received any formal notice from the township government about whether they will take back my land," Tsai, 70, told the yesterday.
"I will return the land to the local government if I am compensated, as it is a provincial government-backed project."
Tsai said he had no idea how much the compensation might be with 35 years left on his lease.
"Since I am now living in Nanhai city, I entrusted a friend in Jiangmen to handle my farm business," he said, adding that he hired a couple to take care of a pig farm and fish pond, and a few workers to care for an orchard on his land.
However, Nie Jiao and her husband, Zheng Shui - the couple taking care of a pig farm and fishpond - said local officials came to the land a few weeks ago and made an inventory of the structures and crops.
Tsai said he signed the lease with the Zhishan government and agreed to pay 15,000 yuan (HK$18,800) in total rent for the first five years. After that, the rent rises by 3,000 yuan - 150 yuan per hectare - every five years. He said he holds the most land of anyone affected by the nuclear plant.
The Jiangmen government has said the plant will occupy 229 hectares in Zhishan, and it buildings will occupy 50 hectares.
In addition to Tsai's fish pond, several others are visible nearby. It was unclear whether the ponds would be filled in to make way for the plant.
An environmental evaluation report issued by the local government failed to detail the impact on the local fish pond industry; nor did it list any crisis-management plans.
"Our government is focused only on how safe and beneficial the nuclear fuel plant will be and hasn't told us what the worst-case scenario would be if an accident occurred," said a villager from neighbouring Shuikou town who declined to be named.
But the 160 residents of remote Lianzhu village who will be relocated away from the plant said they were looking forward to the project bringing local farmers a compensation windfall.
"As farmers, we don't know anything about nuclear technology," one villager said. "What we can do is trust the reports prepared by the nuclear experts and the government."
Lianzhu's village head, Zheng Qian , 58, who convinced all 160 villagers to sign an agreement this week to move, said he visited a nuclear fuel plant in Yibin , Sichuan , last year.
"My fears were put to rest when I found workers at Yibin did not need to wear protective uniforms, and there were residential areas only dozens of metres away from the complex," he said, explaining why he persuaded his villagers to move.
