In this year’s ongoing “two sessions” of the Shenzhen legislature and political advisory body, the intensive road renovation projects in Shenzhen at the end of 2018 have aroused much concern among lawmakers and political advisers, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.
Yang Qin, Hu Chunhua and Zhang Luyu, deputies to the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Congress, had each initiated inspections of road excavation projects in Futian, Luohu and Bao’an districts, respectively.
A number of political advisers believe that some construction units were given free rein to carry out construction projects before the relevant governmental departments had formulated a detailed plan, which resulted in repeated road excavations.
Some political advisers contend that relevant departments should become stricter about repeated road excavations and unapproved construction projects.
At present, around 563 roads undergoing renovations in the city have been approved by the traffic authority, accounting for 5.97 percent of the total number of roads under maintenance in Shenzhen, the Daily reported.
However, unauthorized road excavation is relatively common and a total of 2,128 cases were found to have violated road management rules in 2018, according to the Daily.
In order to strengthen road management and standardize road construction practices, the city’s transport commission recently formulated a draft of new regulations for urban road management, which is soliciting public opinions.
According to the draft, three problems are prominent in road renovation. First, the same section of a road undergoes multiple excavations in a short period of time due to a lack of coordinated arrangements.
Second, the quality of road surface repair is uneven due to lack of supervision, which is likely to form traffic congestion and pose potential safety hazards. Third, excessive excavation on some roads and unreasonable traffic alleviation schemes greatly impact urban traffic.
In light of the draft, the same section of a road will only be allowed to undergo one renovation a year in principle. Roads built, enlarged or rebuilt within five years shall not be approved for excavation in principle.
Political adviser Jiang Lei believes that the repetition of road excavation can be effectively curbed if the new management measures are strictly followed.