Build for the long haul

Given China's rapid economic development and social progress, huge investments in big projects are not something new in the country. But how efficient such investments will be and how long these projects will stand the test of time in both construction quality and adaptability to future development should be of public concern.

When the Ministry of Railways revealed that 548 new railway stations would be built with an estimated investment of 150 billion yuan during the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-10), what was of real interest was the information that some of them would be built into outstanding ones in both quality and accommodation capacity that would stand for more than 100 years.

It is really encouraging to hear that some structures will be built in such good quality and with such long-term consideration for future use that they will be able to stand for more than 100 years without being expanded or even being demolished in 20 years to make room for new ones.

Yet, an underlying assumption is that some of these stations will not be that lucky to be in use for that long. Then how long will these stations be used before they will be rebuilt or demolished for the erection of new ones?

Knowing how crowded many railway stations and trains can be, very few would question the necessity of further expansion of railway lines and stations. This could ease the heavy pressure of passenger transport on railway facilities during major festivals and make travel by train a pleasure rather than a nightmare. At present, everything - from standing in a long queue to get a ticket to elbowing one's way into and out of stations - can be a challenging task.

Yet, with a number of buildings in sound quality being demolished to make room for new ones after being used for only 15 years or 20 years, there is enough reason for many to expect that these stations should be so designed that they will not need to be rebuilt or replaced by bigger ones because of their inadequate capacity in just a decade or more. So many will undoubtedly welcome the plan to construct some stations that will be be used for more than 100 years.

If lack of funds makes it impossible to construct all the 500-odd stations into ones that will stand for that long, the rest of the stations should be designed and built in such a manner that their expansion can be easily done on their basic designs when it is necessary.

For a large country that China is, the per capita resources of almost every kind are not much compared with the average level in the world. The per capita availability of water and coal is only 50 percent of the world average, the per capita oil and natural gas only one-fifteenth of the world average and arable land only less than 30 percent of the world average.

So efficient use of every penny in construction of public buildings is an imperative for the country's development to be sustainable.

Last but not the least, such a huge investment in so many construction projects must have a sound supervision mechanism to make sure that every penny is spent where it should be.

(China Daily 09/03/2008 page8)