After President Ma Ying-jeou said on Friday that he will not support the Kuokuang Petrochemical plant project in Changhua, there have been talks about a backup plan for the Chinese Petroleum Corporation, which is said to be considering the construction of a Naphtha cracking plant in the Siaogang district of the Greater Kaohsiung City. But local residents have already expressed strong opposition to the idea.

Pointing to satellite photos, the Kaohsiung harbor Dalinpu Self-help Association Chair, Chiu Che-min says that the Linhai Industrial Park sits upon the Dalinpu area, encompassing the CPC Corporation, Taiwan Power Company, and China Steel.

The pollution from the three corporations have long posed a threat to the health of the local residents and have made the area virtually uninhabitable.

Now it appears that if the environmental impact assessment of the KuoKuang Petrochemcials does not pass, a 150-hectare Naphtha cracking plant will be constructed in the area.

From the Siaogang Dalinpu area to Fengpitou area, consists of 6 boroughs and over 10 thousand local residents.

The borough chief says that previously the area was flourishing and well populated, but ever since the construction of petrochemical plants, residents have started moving away from the area.

Day and night, trucks on the roads pose a risk to resident safety.

In response to KuoKuang Petrochemcial Company's plan to construct a new plant, many local residents have decided to once and for all abandon the town.

Local residents say that CPC Corporation will close its plant in Kaohsiung in the year of 2015 and is already in process of relocating its operations to its Dalin plant.

Undoubtedly, the move will increase the pollution in Dalinpu.

CPC executives are fervently attempting to quell news of the new plans, saying KuoKuang Petrochemicals are looking beyond the 150-hectare Naphtha cracking plant and have no such backup plans.

However, they failed to explain whether they will construct such a plant.

Due to the rumors of construction plans in Linyuan Township, Beishan Borough to Dalinpu, the KuoKuang Petrochemicals topic is causing quite a commotion among local Kaohsiung City residents and even the city government who is asking for clarification.