Construction adding to paraxylene production capacity "has proved difficult in recent years due to improved public awareness of environmental protection and inefficient communication informing the public of proposed plants", said Feng Shengping, a researcher with the Guangdong Provincial Situation Research Center.

Information on paraxylene, or PX, a major raw material for making polyester products, should be better communicated to the public, Feng said.

Most residents believe that the facilities would be a threat to the local environment as they know little about the chemical, Feng said.

Zhang Kehua, vice-chairman of Sinopec Engineering (Group) Co, agreed that more should be done to inform the public of the environmental effects of PX as China needs more domestic production of the chemical in the years ahead.

China, which accounts for about a quarter of the global PX production capacity, is expected to see an increasing shortage in 2014, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Citing an industrial report, released in January by the Sinopec's economics and technology research institute, Xinhua reported that the supply gap will be up to 9.5 million metric tons this year.

The domestic PX industry met only 47 percent of the country's demand in 2013, which increased by 18.5 percent from a year before.

"The local government needs to improve transparency in the construction of such chemical plants. Otherwise, the country will see a widening shortage of its PX supply if more projects are shut down," Zhang said.

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