A journalist in French Polynesia says a plan to move a proposed fish farm project from Makemo to Hao atoll is a more viable option for its Chinese investors.
Three months ago, the French Polynesian government signed a deal with Tian Rui International Investment for the 1.7 billion US dollar aquaculture project on Makemo.
The publisher of the Tahiti Pacifique monthly, Alex du Prel, says because nuclear bombs were flown into Hao from France before being transported to Mureroa for testing, it has a 3,000 metre runway and a large dock.
He says that would mean easy transportation of fish to China, which would not be possible from Makemo.
Mr du Prel says there is also talk of the atoll becoming a tax haven, so that the bureaucracy of French Polynesia could be avoided by the company's fish exports.
"That would be the only way that this operation would be viable by number one, making it a duty free zone, number two, flying directly from that atoll to China, and also having those docks because that would be another 30 or 40 million dollars to build docks on the island of Makemo."
A French Polynesia journalist, Alex du Prel.
