Local leaders in Ningbo, East China, have shown overdue respect for the will of the public by shelving the proposed expansion of an oil refinery and chemical plant. The decision to halt the plans, which was announced on Sunday, brought the protests to an end.

However, the fact that in the last couple of years proposals for industrial projects in the cities of Xiamen, Dalian, Shifang and Qidong have met with similar protests and been settled in a similar way should provide some food for thought.

That local leaders are sensible enough to know that nothing can be done against the will of the majority of residents has made it possible for all these events to be settled peacefully. This is admirable.

Nevertheless, the lack of a transparent decision-making process for such projects, one that permits the public to participate, has resulted in these outbursts of public anger.

Such protests are symptomatic of a lack of trust between local governments and residents. This lack of trust made it impossible for the local government leaders to persuade residents that the proposed projects had been assessed as safe and environmentally acceptable.

The public's fear of potentially harmful or environmentally damaging industrial projects is understandable and must not be ignored. But sometimes the views of the majority can be shaped by such fears and they can then mistake a good project for a bad one. So giving in to uninformed demands may maintain social stability, but may not be the best solution.

The expansion of the Ningbo petrochemical plant was planned as part of the Ningbo Petrochemical Economic and Technological Development Zone in Zhejiang province, and would have created the capacity to refine 15 million tons of crude oil a year.

Some local governments have shown the way forward by inviting people's opinions through different channels. But this entails plenty of information sharing, something that many authorities have a tendency to neglect.

A mechanism needs to be established that enables people to be fully involved in the process so they are aware of the pros and cons of a project and can air their views.

Only in this way will trust be built up between local governments and residents and a virtuous cycle for economic growth and the social progress be established.

(China Daily 10/30/2012 page8)