The Shiny Building flaw in China

On Saturday morning in September, prospective home buyers crowded the sales office for Fun City, a community of high-rise development outside of Beijing. Is building still stands half a century from now is anyone's predictions. In July, the flooding raised questions about fitness Lying low stretch of land for intensive development. Local media reported that the nature of the basement adjacent to the City Fun experiencing water-logging, while near the superhighway G-4 submerged. At least 77 people were killed many of them fell on their car, partly because of inadequate drainage or clogged systems.Nearly every month brings news of the failure of infrastructure, dramatic or unusual. In August of $ 300 million on a new eight-lane suspension bridge collapsed in Harbin, sent four trucks crashed and left three people dead. In 2009 a building near completion in Shanghai toppled like dominoes due to inadequate foundation. The UK Telegraph reported that the opening months of last year, $ 210 million Guangzhou Opera House began spilling pane glass windows and huge flaw built into the ceiling. Last year the writer Evan Osnos noted in his New Yorker blog declining home early in his yard: "When the rainy season hit Beijing, our house is starting to show age. About four years, to be exact "All this contradicts the image of overseas Chinese to win" race infrastructure., "As the title of a story Aug. 24 from Foreign Policy put it online. China woes structure is part of the government's focus on volume growth over quality. The idea is to implement as many workers as possible. Mengshu Wang, deputy chief engineer at China Railway Tunnel Group, said that instead of using advanced technology to carve a railway tunnel, the group often prefer to implement millions of pairs of hands with officials identified challenges " to solve the problem of national employment. ". At a forum on green building in 2010, Deputy Minister of Construction Qiu Baoxing said, "Every year, new buildings in China total up to 2 billion square meters and use up to 40 percent of the world's cement and steel , but our buildings can only stand 25 to 30 years on average "U.S. commercial buildings is expected to stand for 70-75 years, according to the U.S. Department of housing and commercial development Energy.For., architectural design and construction usually given a half hour in the U.S., according to Beijing-based landscape architect Paul Maksy. "With such a rapid pace of construction, often with little monitoring of standards," said Stephen Hammer, a professor of energy planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who worked in China. Bad substances can cause problems: The collapse of school buildings in Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 is due in part to the use of low quality cement, so-called developing this. "When the cement is mixed enough or when other elements mixed in, it is not very strong, so any major storm or fatigue can make building this fall," said Francis Cheung, author of A report in 2012 that brokerage firm CLSA, China Infrastructure Bubble. In 2011 the government gave the rules of the materials. "There is a movement towards accordance with building codes and standards," said Hammer MIT. "But the implementation and monitoring remains highly variable." Cutting corners is not a sound long-term strategy of the Chinese economy in the buildings, bridges, and quickly destroyed the road and require relatively frequent replacement . Said Patrick Chovanec, a professor at Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management: "If you have an asset that lasts for 20 or 30 years, twice as long, shorter productive life before you have to refurbish or tear . down "Robert Blohm, an economist and consultant for Asia Resources sharply in Beijing, said China will be able to" stopped ":" Is China still have to pay for another round of infrastructure development is a town or city, dilapidated building landscape? "He Asks.For now, the cash taps open. In early September, China announced plans to build more than 1,200 miles of trails, nine plants to treat sewage, five ports, and 25 subway and intercity rail projects. "In an economic slowdown, the government should take some action countercyclical," said Xu Lin, head of the planning department at the National Development and Reform Commission, the bottom line reporters.The:China building last 25 - 30 years, while the U.S. commercial building expected to stand for 70-75 years.