THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 1, 1996 TAG: 9602010002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
Chesapeake's surely doing something right when the executives of one Japanese multinational corporation doing business in the city suggest to a subsidiary corporation that it place a manufacturing plant in the same locality.
That's what happened, as staff writer Mylene Mangalindan recounted Sunday in her report on how the Oji-Yuka Synthetic Paper Co. Ltd. (YUPO) decided on Chesapeake as the place for a $100 million synthetic-paper-making plant.
Having a good name and being on good terms with others are keys to economic, no less than social, success. When Chesapeake Economic Development Director Don Goldberg made a courtesy call on Mitsubishi in Japan a few years ago, company officials alluded to projects under consideration.
Mitsubishi has a chemical plant in Chesapeake. Why shouldn't YUPO set up an operation nearby? Chesapeake lacks abundant freshwater, but synthetic paper is a chemical concoction that, unlike real paper, doesn't require great quantities of water to make. Besides, land for a plant was available at a reasonable price and Mitsubishi was happy in Chesapeake.
YUPO's decision - great news primarily for Chesapeake but also for all Hampton Roads - was announced last week. The $100 million investment in plant could eventually rise to $400 million, depending upon demand for YUPO's product. Meanwhile, local businesses stand to benefit from construction and supply contracts and from the ripple effect of at least 100 jobs in the plant. Each YUPO job will generate two other jobs.
Next to inheriting substantial sums of money, winning big in a lottery or striking oil, jobs paying enough to live on are the best antipoverty program. Government can help fight poverty by creating and maintaining conditions that attract desirable enterprises. Virginia does that. Chesapeake obviously does, too. Good for it. by CNB