An Bord Pleanála gives go-ahead for Chinese trading hub in Athlone

AN BORD PLEANÁLA has given the go-ahead for the first phase of an international trading hub to be built in Athlone, Co Westmeath.



The development will be constructed on a 137-hectare site at the Creggan, east of Athlone and will cost around €175 million for the first phase.
The grandiose development even anticipates there will be an ‘Athlone International Airport’ that will completed “at the end of 2018″ and will be a 20 minute drive away from the Europe China Trading Hub (ECTH).

This morning, the planning board has given the go-ahead for the first of a five intended stages which will be financed by private equity, and pre-sales of concessions spaces according to the developers.
It rejected half-a-dozen appeals including one from An Taisce which warned that a similar Chinese trading hub was being built on the Wirral peninsula opposite Liverpool in the UK.

The ECTH intends to provide a demonstration space for Chinese manufacturers and traders to sell their goods to European and international buyers with a view to generating bulk orders.
The development will span across 1,000,000 square metres and some of the facilities that are intended to be constructed during phase one of the project include:

• A four-storey reception hall
• A multi-purpose exhibition hall known as the China hall
• Two ‘mega’ exhibition halls
• Nine trading halls
• An external exhibition space
• A glass covered walkway connecting entrance hall to ‘mega’ exhibition halls.
• Underground multi-purpose transport facility which will hold parking for over 1,300 cars
• An energy centre and wind turbine

It is estimated that 1,500 jobs could be created as part of the project as well as 1,200 during the post construction phase. It is envisaged that as many as 9,000 jobs could be created through further developments of the remaining four stages.


The Europe China Trading Hub as envisaged by the project’s developers according to its official website. 

As well a the trading hub the website for the ECTH (you have to click through to see the artist’s impression of what it will look like) says there there will eventually be culture and leisure facilities that will include:

• A five-star hotel resort
• Apartments
• A theatre
• A shopping centre
• A sports and fitness centre
• A convention centre
• A hospital
• A school
• A bank
• A petrol station
• A train station

The website also states that Athlone International Airport will be completed at the end of 2018 though it is not clear if this is part of the development or a separate enterprise.
The project is the brainchild of the Athlone Business Park Ltd which is owned by two local developers Aidan Kelly and Michael O’Sullivan. A former Roscommon county manager John Tiernan is acting as chief executive.

Last December local Fianna Fáil councillor Frankie Keena told TheJournal.ie that the development was a positive one for transport links in Ireland.
He said: “The Chinese’s target market would consist of business people on the east coast of America and European people as well. Up to about 3,000 people a week would be coming into Ireland so it’ll be positive for the airports as well.

“Athlone is ideally located for this project, it’s in the centre of country. With a new motorway you’d make Dublin Airport in an hour-and-a-half easy – easily to Shannon airport as well. It’s something we badly need to give us a stimulus.”
An Taisce declined to comment on the decision by An Bord Pleanála this morning but said it would be releasing a statement later today.

Source : Here

Globalism and China starts to colonize Europe

Cashed up with plenty of U.S. dollars China is in a good position to buy up big in Europe and Australia.
The G20 summit has shown the problems of post-industrial Europe which cannot expect to enjoy export-led growth demanded when most of the countries no longer manufacture on the scale necessary to pay their way in a global world. (The Guardian Weekly, 2.7.10, P1.)   Governments are terrified that they will be punished severly if they fail to take deficit reduction seriously.  As for the markets, it is certainly true that sovereign debt is their concern now.

Inflation or deflation, what does it matter, Europe is broke, except for Germany, wages are much too high and nobody wants to work in industry.  Global warming and all that crap.
China has the money, China has the eager and skilled workers and China will colonize Europe.
The European Commission is worried about availability  of rare earths, niobium, platinum and has published a list of 14 critical metals or groups of metals that are important to Europe’s economy and may become difficult for Europe to procure.  Just one example; In recent months, China, which controls 95% of rare earths, has started cutting back exports, raising tensions in European industry.

Europe needs certain metals for the production of it’s own electronic vehicles and needs to exploit mineral resources in Europe.  This is opposed by the Greens. The World Trade Organisation has yet to settle the dispute between the U.S., Europe and China over rare earths.  (The Guardian Weekly 2.7.10, p.3.)
While Europe and America dither China is busy buying up Europe and Africa.

As soon as this month, Chinese manufacturers hope to get approval to develop a dollar 60 million plot in Athlone, Central Ireland.  The Athlone project, which has yet to gain planning approval, involves shippping 2,000 Chinese workers to build a “Chinese hub” of factories on a 24o hectare stretch of land outside the County Westmeath town, that will eventually employ 8,000 Irish staff and how many Chinese?  The advantage to China?  The manufacturers would gain access to the lowest corporation tax rates in Europe and doorstep access to the eurozone for their products.  Tariffs and quotas imposed by the E.U. and individual countries would be bypassed.

Greece is also the beneficiary of the billions of dollars in Chinese government coffers.  Chinese Vice-premier, Zhang Dejiang, signed a series of industrial co-operation deals last week.  Chinese businesses will invest in Greece.  Chinese shipping group Cosco will build a dollars 3.5.billion massive container-handling facility at the port of Piraeus.  There is also talk of Cosco building a huge logistics centre there, from where trucks would be able to move containers around the rest of the continent.  There is talk of Beijing money being injected into the loss making Greek railway operator, OSE, the Airports and even the postal service.
The Greek government should let China take over the Government and the country.
London has attracted 34 Chinese foreign direct investment projects and is seen by the Chinese companies as a natural base for expanding into Europe.

Europe is finished!  What about Australia?  All because of the greed of the financiers of Europe and America and the export of World Industry to China and it’s eager and low cost workers!
The Chinese are using American money to buy up the World.  Unbelievable, but then Left wing politics was never about making money and now even the Tories are Left wing.

Source : Here