Shenzhen is considering legislation to standardize the management and approval of rail transit planning and construction and solve problems that cause approvals to lag behind construction.
Beginning construction before getting approval is a common problem in the country’s rail construction.
The Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau is seeking public opinion on the legislation, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.
According to the plan, which aims to speed up rail construction and standardize the management and approval of projects, the time period from the feasibility application to implementation will be shortened to 68 days.
The existing laws and regulations fail to consider the complexity of rail construction, and regulations from different government agencies conflict with each other, which makes it difficult to meet the demand for modern rail transport construction.
At present, there is no specialized regulation on Metro project construction. Approvals relying on the present systems are time-consuming, complicated and lag behind normal construction progress. These factors lead to high risks in project management, because most projects end up being initiated prior to approval.
The legislation is to safeguard the city’s objective of completing a dual 1,000-km backbone network. The dual backbone network comprises 1,000 kilometers of Metro rail and 1,000 kilometers of high-speed rail.
By referring to the Metro project management practices in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Wuhan, the plan sets requirements, conditions and time periods for approvals from application and planning to construction, land requisition, relocation, traffic relief, project assessment and safety assessment.
The time period from application to construction is controlled within 88 working days, or a minimum of 68 days.
The public can send suggestions to the public opinion solicitation page on the official website of the Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau before May 16.