by Wang Zhicheng

In five years, 18 bridges have collapsed killing 135 people, blamed on flooding or overloaded lorries. In the past ten years, about 200,000 bridges were built quickly, with poor workmanship and shoddy materials. Corruption and failure to respect safety regulations explain low quality bridges and construction material. Online, Chinese openly voice their criticism.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - In the past five years, 18 bridges have collapsed in China, killing 135, this according to China's State Administration of Work Safety. Most had been in use for less than 15 years, built during the country's building boom. The latest incident occurred last Friday when a 100-metre section of an approach ramp snapped a 15-km bridge in Harbin, falling on the roads below, killing three people and injuring five more. On the Internet, many Chinese wonder whether their nation's bridges are like the shoddily built 'tofu schools' (in some cases built without cement) that collapsed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, killing 6,000 children. On one online forum, a laconic user said, "Tofu engineering work leads to a tofu bridge." Shortcuts and unenforced building rules during China's construction frenzy are to blame.

More than 10 years ago, the idea of carrying out surveying, design work and construction simultaneously was rightly regarded as irresponsible, but now it is "common practice," Chen Zhaoyuan, a bridge scientist at Tsinghua University and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told South China Morning Post.

"A few years ago China had only about 500,000 bridges. Now we have more than 700,000," said Dan Danhui, associate professor with Tongji University's bridge safety department in Shanghai. "No country has ever built hundreds of thousands of bridges in just a few years. With such a huge number of projects going on . . . I am not surprised to see an increasing number of reports of collapses."

The authorities have rejected accusations of poor workmanship; instead, they have singled out for blame flooding, overloaded vehicles or cargo ships hitting bridge supports.

Most Chinese tend to be sceptical about official claims, especially Beijing residents.

Last month's floods in the capital in fact revealed that many buildings have been constructed without proper sewers in a city where many gutters date back to the Manchu Empire.

Pounded by torrential rains, many new buildings also developed leaky roofs, crooked frames and collapsing ceilings.

Similarly, the dismal safety record of China's railways and the many crashes, some involving bullet trains, provide ammunition to the army of critics, especially on the Internet, pointing the finger at corruption as a major cause of low quality constructions.

For many years, government mega projects have become a great opportunity for Communist party members to get rich quickly, skipping on the quantity and quality of the material and doctoring safety tests.

"Just imagine, some corrupt official takes four-fifths of the project funds, that means the project manager can only make money by skimping on the job," said one user.

• china
• construction
• bridges
• collapse
• corruption
• communist
• party