The story could be called “The tribulations of the Chinese in Pas-de-Calais”, in homage to Jean-Paul Belmondo. A month ago, 250 Chinese technicians and workers were due to arrive in the small village of Cléty, near Saint-Omer. Today, the town hall announces to its 800 residents that this is “no longer relevant”, reports The voice of the North. Explanations.
It all starts with the decarbonization project for a cement factory, a particularly polluting activity, located around ten kilometers away, in Lumbres, near Saint-Omer. For two years, the Eqiom company will be responsible for building the new kiln for this cement plant. And in this area, the Chinese are the great specialists.
Staying in a campsite?
A team from China is therefore expected from September to get to work. Problem: where to house these 250 people for the duration of the work?
The community of communes of Pays de Lumbres (CCPL), the local authority which oversees this project called K6, had found available land in Cléty to install 200 bungalows and a collective catering center.
However, clearly, on April 8, the date of the public meeting on the subject, the inhabitants of the village and the mayor were presented with a fait accompli, without consultation. Small tensions. Then, in the final turnaround, the municipality of Cléty informed its citizens that “the arrival of Chinese workers in the municipality was no longer relevant”.
Latest scenario served by the town hall: the Chinese workers would ultimately be “housed in a campsite in Audincthun” for “economic reasons”. Or twenty kilometers from the workplace instead of ten. For the carbon footprint linked to a decarbonization project, it has already failed.
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