A total of 380,000 bridges across the country have been
inspected in the past few months for safety, Minister of
Communications Li Shenglin said over the weekend.
Li said a tenth of the bridges inspected were found to require
regular checks and repair work, but most of the problems were not
life-threatening.
The inspections came after a bridge under construction in Hunan
Province collapsed and killed 64 people in August last year.
"That was a big lesson for us," Li said.
The ministry will implement a three-year campaign starting this
year aimed at ensuring the safety of all bridges.
A system requiring all work on bridges to be evaluated on
engineering and construction risks before building starts will also
be introduced, Li said.
"The collapsed stone arch bridge in Hunan was of low cost but
demanded better engineering techniques. A steel-reinforced concrete
structure might have been safer in that case," he said.
Li said another lesson from the Hunan bridge collapse is that
local government officials must not demand the date of completion
of projects in time for celebrations, as such demands could end up
compromising the quality of construction.
China has about 530,000 bridges. Of them, 150,000 bridges were
not included in the inspection as they were built and opened
recently.
(China Daily January 7, 2008)