"Long time, little progress" is probably the best description for the current status of DuPont's largest titanium dioxide investment outside of U.S. borders. Industry rumor has it that the $1 billion project may not see the day of approval.

Back in 2005, DuPont signed a memorandum of intent with the local government in Dongying, Shandong province, hoping to establish a 200,000-metric-ton-per-year facility there and start production in 2010.

"It was a very attractive opportunity for Dongying at the time," commented the Economic Observer News. The deal was going to create 600 jobs and 500 million yuan ($73.8 million) of tax revenue - about one eighth of the total revenue of the Dongying government.

Dongying was quick to reserve 20 square kilometers of land for the project.

In November 2007, the project received an approval from China's State Administration of Environmental Protection (now Ministry of Environmental Protection) and entered the evaluation phase of the Ministry of Land and Resources.

An industry veteran, however, now tells the media that the Ministry of Land and Resources would need an OK from Dongying local government to process such applications.

Coincidentally, the Dongying government went through a personnel change in early 2008, and the new mayor brought into the office a different set of values and policies that highly emphasized eco-friendliness.

DuPont China's government relations manager, Xun Jun, was quoted by the Economic Observer News as saying that DuPont's repeated inquiries to Dongying officials received no response.