The opposition LMP in Hajdú-Bihar County, in eastern Hungary, is initiating a local referendum on China’s CATL battery plant planned near Debrecen. The city has long-standing water shortages, Péter Ungár, the green party’s co-leader, said on Wednesday. The area would become a desert if the water-intensive project went ahead, he insisted. He castigated the government for not canvassing the opinion of locals on an issue that he insisted could affect the city for the next 30-40 years. In times of drought, this scarce commodity must be conserved, he added.