After years of complaints in Hong Kong about pollution coming from China, Dongguan is calling on Hong Kong factories to clean up within one year or their licenses to operate would not be renewed, according to today's South China Morning Post report.
Polluting factories that operate in electroplating, dyeing and printing will not be eligible to renew their licenses to operate in Dongguan if they did not clean up their act.
Dongguan Mayor Li Yuquan says it is paramount to start cleaning up Dongguan, where it is suffering from a serious water pollution problem and all of its rivers are black. By the end of this year, he said 36 sewage works and 200km - 400km of main sewage treatment pipes would be completed.
According to the report, an estimated 8,800 Hong Kong enterprises operate in Dongguan, or 58 per cent of the total 15,000 foreign companies.
The factories are given an option to move into nine businses parks were waste water would be treated collectively.
