Streets deemed safer than homes
- Source: Global Times
- [08:12 August 06 2010]
- Comments
Residents camp out on the streets with slogans that read "The building will fall over" after nearby construction has damaged their homes in Hongkou district. Photo: Cai Xianmin
By Chen Xiaoru
A group of residents from a Hongkou district neighborhood have been camping outside their residential buildings in tents for the past two weeks, saying Thursday that their compounds are on the verge of collapse due to faulty construction work nearby that has torn their homes apart.
The residents claim that two buildings occupied by more than 80 households inside the Yihong Jingyuan community complex, which were built five years ago, have suffered foundation problems since construction work by the Bothland Hotel began some dozen meters south of their homes in January.
Residents, who were Thursday holding up signs that read "My home is going to fall apart" say that their homes are no longer safe and are worried about them toppling over like a building did in Minhang district last year.
"I'm so worried about my home falling over that I've had to resort to living on the streets for the past two weeks," a middle-aged woman surnamed Zhang, a Yihong Jingyuan resident, told the Global Times Thursday. "My neighbors also spend their nights in tents because they fear for their lives."
According to Zhang, the group has made a verbal appeal to the hotel company, asking for compensation, an amount she declined to disclose Thursday, to make up for their property losses. She said their real esate value has dropped by 20 percent due to the hotel construction that has caused the walls of their homes to crack and the foundation of their building to deteriorate.
Like several of the apartments in the building, the one belonging to Zhang has suffered noticeable damage in recent months, including cracked walls and broken windows due to foundation problems. Deterioration to the foundation has caused fissures in the ground, the largest of which have a diameter spanning the width of a fist.
Chen Xinliang, 69, another Yihong Jingyuan resident, said that the damages turned catastrophic after the hotel had workers begin underground digging to make room for a parking lot several months ago.
According to Lin Youhua, the property manager of the Yihong Jingyuan community complex, the nearby hotel construction has brought serious problems to the two buildings. But he said that talks held in previous months between the two sides have not yet been able to resolve the issue.
Meanwhile, the Bothland Hotel authorities said that the 6.9-meter underground plot workers have been digging does not threaten the safety of the buildings, but admit-ted some negative effects have come about as a result of the construction work.
"The project has caused the residential buildings to subside a bit, but has not caused any danger to the residents living there," Yao Fuxiang, manager of the Bothland Hotel, told the Global Times Thursday. "There is no way their buildings will fall over."
Yao added that the hotel received the go-ahead from local authorities to start construction this year with all the required building permits, and further pointed to a safety accreditation the hotel got from the Shanghai Architectural and Engineering Consultants Group.
According to the firm invited by the hotel to inspect the site, though the two buildings in question have subsided about 5 millimeters following the construction work, the amount is well below the 20-millimeter alert standard set by the municipal government.
"Damage caused to the buildings from the hotel project is manageable," an engineer surnamed Sun, from the Shanghai Architectural and Engineering Consultants Group, told the Global Times Thursday. "It can be fixed."
According to property manager Lin, the residents have rejected the offer made by the hotel to repair cracks and related damages to their homes because they are worried the problem runs deeper. They say that if such repairs are made it would mean they have less evidence to provide to a potential third party that may get involved in dispute settlement in the future.
