The Yunlin County has ruled that the plants would have to remain closed till the County and the Council of Labour Affairs certify that the safety standards at these facilities have been properly upgraded.Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) has ruled that operations at the Nan Ya Plastics Corp’s five petrochemical plants, which pose a danger to industrial safety, would remain suspended till MOEA’s final ruling in this regard.

The Ministry is still analysing the facts and legal side of the case and would soon reach a final decision, an officer of the Ministry’s Petitions and Appeals Committee has revealed.

The decision to postpone reopening of Nan Ya plants was taken at a meeting of the MOEA attended by the firm’s President Wu Chia-chau, Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen, and other county officials.

At the meeting, the parties put forward their respective case on the closure orders for the five facilities. The meeting was held following the Corporation’s plea to the Ministry claiming that the orders of the Yunlin County government were not valid and closure orders for four of the five plants should be withdrawn as functionality of these plants have nothing to do with the fires that raged at the fifth plant during May 2011.

The Yunlin County government had on May 27 ordered Nan Ya to close operations at five plants in its 50-hectare Haifeng compound facility where fires had broken out on May 12 and May 18.

The Haifeng compound incorporates five production facilities which produce several basic textile materials and petrochemical intermediaries.

In a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, Nan Ya stated that the shut down of operations at the five plants is causing the Corporation to incur financial losses of no less than NT$8.4 million or US$ 289,700 per day.

The Yunlin County has ruled that the plants would have to remain closed till the County and the Council of Labour Affairs certify that the safety standards at these facilities have been properly upgraded.
POST: 2025-04-20