From Chinese Press

When will local govts learn?

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-26 08:32

More than a hundred cities were waterlogged recently because of the heavy downpour in South and East China. But the flooding of the cities has a lot to do with administrative mistakes, too, says article in Beijing News. Excerpts:

Under the spectacular concrete jungles that cities are today lie poor sewerage systems. A city's development today means building more high-rises and increasing concrete roads with low permeability and reducing natural land and wetlands. Even rivers and lakes in a city could be filled up to build skyscrapers and factories.

These are the man-made reasons that have caused the calamity in cities during the monsoon. But instead of changing their ways, local governments are still arrogant in their ignorance.

Authorities in Wuhu, Anhui province, have even said filling up lakes to build a golf course won't affect flood prevention, and officials in Ya'an, Sichuan province, have argued that building a hotel on a watercourse won't block the discharge of floodwaters.

It's such mindset of local leaders that has misled them toward quick success in urban development and brought disaster upon cities.

(China Daily 07/26/2010 page9)