Society
Bus lane gets green light before report
By Qiu Quanlin (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-22 08:19
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GUANGZHOU: Local residents have been worried about the traffic congestion during the construction of a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane project, which is scheduled to begin service at the end of this month. Many people said it would bring only inconvenience, not a fast traffic service.
Now it has surfaced that the environmental assessment for the project, which is supposed to be completed before construction begins, was published more than half a year after it had already begun.
"How could authorities begin construction of the project before its environmental assessment was completed?" said Kuang Qide, an engineer with a construction company.
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The bus lane runs from east to west along busy Zhongshan Avenue in the Tianhe district of Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong province.
"But now you see, the traffic along the Zhongshan Avenue has become worse since the BRT construction," Kuang said.
A simplified report of the project's environmental assessment was first published in May 2007, but the report concluded that the project needed further assessment before its construction.
A huge ceremony was held on Nov 30, 2008, to mark the beginning of construction for the 300-million-yuan ($44 million) project. The final report came out July 3, 2009.
According to the South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, which is responsible for the environmental assessment, two sessions to receive public comments were held before construction.
However, only 167 people were invited to attend the first assessment meeting, and only 78 people were invited to the second.
"It is definitely a false assessment report," Kuang said.
"I am very surprised to know that the publication of the environmental assessment came later than the beginning of the BRT project's construction," said Wang Zechu, an adviser to Guangdong government.
"Many residents are opposing the construction of the BRT project due to its inappropriate construction process, not to mention the negative impact it has brought since its construction," Wang said.
Yesterday, the environmental assessment report of the BRT project was not available on the websites of either the South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, or the Guangzhou environmental protection bureau.
Calls to both authorities went unanswered.
"To some degree, such a report means nothing. But someone should be held responsible for the misconduct with the environmental assessment," Wang said.
