CAIRO: Negotiations between the government and Agrium kicked off Sunday night to relocate the plant to another area of Damietta, away from residential areas and tourism sites. When parliament agreed with the recommendation to relocate the plant away from the tourist hotspot Ras El-Bar, the company proposed an alternative site for the nitrogen plant in West Damietta near the port. It was understood that these negotiations would be definitive, or at least lead to a final decision very soon. However, this compromise does not seem to appease local opposition who want the plant out of Damietta entirely. After last Friday's noon prayers, around 1,000 protestors congregated what they perceived to be the government ignoring the recommendation to relocate the plant away from Damietta entirely. Head of the popular campaign against the plant in Damietta Nasser El-Emary told Daily News Egypt, "We are not defending Ras El-Bar only. We want the plant away from residential and tourist areas as well as agricultural land. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif was due to meet with Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid and Petroleum Minister Sameh Fahmy to study Agrium's proposal to relocate to Western Damietta, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported. The report added that Agrium was considering buying out the Egyptian government's share in the project if it refused to bear the cost of relocation. "The government is responsible for people's safety. Before they think of relocating it, they need to consider the safety issue and they should approach it in that way, Emary said. "If they choose not to do this, then we must act, he added. "Shouldn't Egypt's environmental experts study the proposed relocation and decide whether or not it will endanger the population? The campaign leader was at pains to point out that this was not a personal vendetta against the plant itself. "We are neither against investment nor Agrium. We just don't want something that might endanger the people of Damietta. That is why things must be done in a clear way, he said. "We know that these plants are some of the worst in the world from an environmental standpoint, he added. The Agrium parent company in Canada had considered writing off the nitrogen plant in Damietta after the People's Assembly (PA) recommended that it be relocated. The third largest nitrogen producer in the world said that moving the project was not a viable option, Reuters reported, and thus they would be looking at writing off the whole project. The PA had recommended that the plant, currently under construction, be relocated to another area. Fifty-nine MPs called for its relocation in light of strong local opposition to the project. The fact-finding committee commissioned by the PA to investigate the furore also made the same recommendation, though it had cleared Agrium and various government bodies of any impropriety. The 33-page report of the PA committee concluded that there was no indication of any financial or administrative violations by either Agrium Egypt or the various government bodies involved in the project. It added that the environmental aspect of the project had been addressed appropriately and that the only point of contention was the plant's location. The committee had found no evidence of illegal commissions that some newspaper reports alleged were paid by the company to facilitate the procurement of the permits necessary to begin construction. Reuters reported that current world demand for grain and squeezed supplies of fertilizer had boosted prices of crop nutrients like fertilizers to an all time high. Relocating the plant will cost at least an additional $500 million according to figures presented to the fact-finding committee by Agrium Egypt. Emary said, "The opposition will be fiercer if the negotiations are not conducted in a transparent manner. We are not opposing just for the sake of it.
