The residents of Damietta are beefing up their campaign against the construction of a huge fertiliser plant, reports Mohamed El-Sayed "Come buy tomatoes before they are contaminated," shouts a street vendor in one of the alleyways of the Mediterranean city of Damietta, 191 kilometres north- east of Cairo. His call is typical of the public campaign launched by a growing number of ordinary citizens, NGOs and politicians in the coastal province against the construction of a huge fertiliser plant by E Agrium. Building has already begun on Ras Al-Barr island, once one of Egypt's most popular summer resorts. "Halt construction of the cancer-causing plant" read the banners that are draped from many balconies in the coastal city. Public outcry over the construction of the plant started several weeks ago when a group of environmentalists began to voice deep concern over its possible harmful effects. The campaign quickly moved into cyberspace -- there are three groups currently campaigning against the factory on the popular website of Facebook -- and was joined by trade unions, members of political parties and civil society activists. Lawsuits were filed against the company, the prime minister and the minister of environment for approving the project. "The decision to build this plant is a crime. It endangers public health, the environment and the eco- structure of the surrounding areas," says Abdel-Rahman El-Wakil, a professor of plant diseases at Mansoura University. "The factory will also store 30,000 tonnes of ammonia adjacent to a residential area. Whatever state-of-the-art technology the plant installs it will take a single human error for the entire Delta to be threatened." The Habi Centre for Environmental Rights warns against the construction of the plant not only on the grounds that it threatens an environmental disaster in the event of any mishap but because its day-to-day operation, including the pumping of waste into the sea, will negatively impact on marine life and on planned tourist development on Ras Al-Barr. Habi Centre's Director Mohamed Nagui argues that, "chemical emissions will endanger the ecological equilibrium of the area and that the proximity of the plant to the residential areas, given the volatility of ammonia, constitutes an unacceptable danger to public health." He points out that the petrochemical industry has one of the world's worst environmental records and that "E Agrium has already caused major pollution in Ohio and Argentina". Gamal Meria, chairman of the Consumers Protection Society, warned against the negative effects of the plant on the surrounding environment. "The temperature of the sea will increase by 6 degrees Celsius because of the hot water coming out of the plant, resulting in the killing of fish which is the main source of income for many people in Ras Al-Barr," he warned. "The plant will endanger the ecosystem of the island," he pointed out. Meria, who champions the campaign against the plant in schools, cafés and on the Internet, says that while there are already four petrochemical plants in the area none of them produce fertilisers, among the most polluting petrochemical activities. "The environment law states that such plants must be at least 30 kilometres from residential areas," Meria points out, "while this plant is only about seven kilometres away." As building work on the site began thousands of protesters took to the streets. "The entire community rejects the planned factory. Ras Al-Barr is one of the few recreational areas the people can visit," says Bandalaimoun Bushra, the local bishop. "People began to oppose construction when they realised how the plant would impact on the environment and public health. They have threatened to go on strike if building work continues." MPs have raised the issue with the People's Assembly's Health Committee, with some calling for the project to be relocated. "There was a plan to turn Ras Al-Barr island into a nature reserve. A plant manufacturing ammonia hardly fits in with such plans," says Damietta MP Mahmoud Siyam. Hamdi El-Sayed, head of the committee, has announced that its members will visit the site next week to assess the situation. Creg McGlown, managing director of the company, attributes the fuss to "a conflict between two government agencies over the land on which the plant is being constructed". E Agrium obtained the approval of the Council of Ministers and the ministries most concerned but the governor of Damietta, says McGlown, "objected to the construction of the plant". He claims some government agencies and investors are interested in the site of the project and are "disseminating false, unfounded information about the plant". "Every project has a negative environmental effect," he points out, "but our plant achieves the highest environmental safety levels. Emissions from the plant will be half the maximum stipulated in [Environment] Law No. 4/1994." Engineer Khaled Salama, executive director of the plant, believes that locals "are being misled". "We are trying to reach out to people to provide them with correct information. We have conducted a study on the environmental impacts of the project and the four nearby plants on the surrounding environment and we are ready to build an environment monitoring station in cooperation with other projects in the area to control any negative effects." The minister of environment denies the existence of plans to turn the area into a nature reserve. "Everything that has been said about the negative effects of the project is unfounded," he insists, pointing out that the project received a bill of clean health from the panel of experts that studied its potential impact on the environment. E Agrium has already spent $500 million on the project, say company officials, which complicates any relocation of the factory. President Hosni Mubarak met with ministers and the governor of Damietta earlier this month to review the situation. "The president asked Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and other ministers to go to Damietta to assuage public concerns," said Presidential Spokesman Suleiman Awwad. He told the press that the president had judged the lack of communication between the ministries involved in the project and local communities as a major problem. No government official has yet to visit the area to address local fears. And while construction on the site was stopped temporarily on Monday on the grounds that the company had failed to obtain the necessary approvals from the local housing department, Damietta's residents remain apprehensive. While some say they will organise yet more demonstrations to halt the project others insist that should it go ahead they will have no choice but to sell up and move away from the area.
