A town's big dreams

Chinese companies would gain access to foreign buyers by taking part in expos. [Provided to China Daily]

Trading hub in central Ireland aims to provide platform for Chinese companies to market products in Europe

A proposed development in Ireland that is pending approval may soon change the way Chinese products are brought to the world.

The project, known as the Europe China Trading Hub, will provide showcase and demonstration space for Chinese manufacturers and traders to display their products to European and other international buyers, with a view to generating bulk orders that will then be delivered from the producers in China.

The project is expected to be located in Athlone, a town of 18,000 in central Ireland, 90 minutes by train from either Dublin or Shannon airports.

"The ECTH will bring Chinese goods to Europe, thereby saving importers the travel costs to China and also give them a feeling of security when paying in advance for their orders," says John Tiernan, chief executive of Athlone Business Park Ltd, the development company that submitted the planning application for the project's first phase last May.

The project's investor is a Chinese development company, which is unwilling to reveal its name. Funds for the project will come from a combination of private equity and pre-sales of exhibition spaces.

Tiernan says that the Chinese investors considered a number of venues in Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium, but decided upon Athlone in 2008.

"They were looking for a patch of 121.4 hectares of land held by a single owner, and they needed an area that would not be affected by adjacent developments, and Athlone was a good choice."

Athlone Business Park bought the land from several cattle farmers before the Chinese investor with the ECTH proposal approached it.

The Athlone Institute of Technology hosts more than 200 Chinese students - one of the links that helped bring the trade hub to the town, Ciaran Cathin, the president of the school and one of the players in the project negotiations, was quoted by the newspaper Christian Science Monitor as saying.

Plans for the project predict that at least 400 Chinese businesses will use the trade hub to launch their products in Europe, according to recent newspaper reports.

Westmeath County Council, the local council, granted permission for ECTH in December, when China was seeking investment opportunities in the infrastructure sector in the West amid economic turmoil.

But objections lodged based on health, noise and environmental concerns means the project is under appeal at An Bord Pleanala, the board that decides major strategic infrastructural projects in Ireland.

The appellants are three local residents, one local business and two conservation bodies. Tiernan says he is working closely with the appellants to address their concerns and feels confident that "the project will get the green light from the An Bord Pleanala".

If planning permission is given, the developers expect to start phase one of the project by late 2014 or early 2015, and complete all five phases within seven to 10 years.

The entire project would cost 1.4 billion euros, create up to 9,000 jobs and attract up to 30,000 visitors a week to the town.

The 175-million-euro first phase includes two mega exhibition halls, each containing space for 270 display areas. It would create 1,500 operational jobs - of which two thirds would be for Irish and EU nationals.

There will be another major multi-purpose hall, known as the China hall, for visiting exhibitions with space for 135 separate display areas.

Another nine smaller one-story exhibition halls are also proposed for phase 1, totaling 22,000 square meters. These halls are designed for larger, bulkier exhibitions such as electric cars and machinery.

Alan Shaw, mayor of Athlone, says the project will greatly benefit the local community from both investment and employment perspectives.

"The scale of the proposal has made it a talking point in Athlone, and we hope it will receive permission to go ahead."

Tiernan also says that the developers will endeavor to fully integrate the project into the local community.

For example, based on advice from the Irish Institute of Chinese Studies at University College Cork, initial plans to build on-site accommodation for Chinese workers and a school for their children were dropped to help the Chinese employees integrate better into the Athlone community.