Factory moved to help cut Beijing pollution

A state-owned pharmaceutical factory on Wednesday was relocated from Beijing to a neighboring province, a move that follows the central government's regional coordinated development drive. Lingyun, a sodium bicarbonate producer in Beijing's Fengtai District, was relocated to Handan City in Hebei Province together with its 100-plus workers. Established in 1991, Lingyun is a subsidiary company of the Xinxing Cathay International Group, a Fortune 500 company. Aging equipment and high pollution had made the plant no longer suitable to remain in Beijing, said Wu Shenfu, director with the Fengtai District Commission of Economy and Information Technology, a government department in charge of industrial development. Wu said the industrial land in Beijing will now be used as a demonstration zone for the emergency response and rescue industry. To entice workers to relocate, the company doubled their wages and increased paid leave. Hui Jian, mayor of Handan City, said the new production base, with more environmentally-friendly facilities and technology, will help reduce emission by 400,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, 9,000 tonnes of sulfur dioxide and 10,000 tonnes of dust than in Beijing. According to the five-year plan (2013- 2017) to improve air quality, Beijing will move 300 companies that cause high levels of pollution out of the city in 2014. The relocation is also believed to be part of efforts amid a national drive for coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. In February, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for coordinated development of the region around Beijing. In early March, coordinated development of the region was included in a Chinese government work report. On Tuesday, the science and technology departments of the three places signed an agreement to share information and strengthen communication with each other in international science and technology cooperation. "Beijing is a popular base for international technological projects, and hundreds of projects from tens of countries are attracted to Beijing. With the agreement, Tianjin and Hebei will be able to share technology through a cooperation platform," said Yan Aoshuang, director with the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission.