Buildings silent as workers exit, cranes stop
Shi Jiangtao in Beijing – Updated on Jul 21, 2008 – SCMP
Building sites across the capital fell silent yesterday and the last of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers began leaving the city in Beijing’s last-ditch effort to curb pollution and ensure Games security for the Olympics.
As part of a flurry of sweeping measures taking effect during the countdown to the Olympics, thousands of construction sites within the city’s Sixth Ring Road came to a standstill and will stay that way for 60 days.
Infrastructure projects, including interior decorating operations at office buildings and residential areas, have also been banned since yesterday in Beijing.
But Olympic-related projects have been exempted, with workers being kept busy adding final touches or cleaning up construction sites.
The building sites, a major source of dust, have been blamed for the widespread, thick air pollution in the capital, along with the private cars that clog its roads. Restrictions on driving came into effect yesterday that should see about half of Beijing’s cars off the road each day.
Halting construction across the city has left hundreds of thousands of migrant labourers jobless and seen them virtually forced out of the city.
The municipal government gave assurances last year that this would not happen.
Building sites were deserted throughout the city yesterday, steel bars reaching skywards and cranes and other construction machinery eerily silent.
Although most migrant workers had already left for home or transferred to sites in other cities, some remained at a few sites, packing up or doing a final cleanup for the Olympic Games.
“We were told to leave Beijing for 60 days. Most people have already left,” said Li Yinchao, a native of Shandong province working at Sanlitun Soho, a large commercial and residential complex next to the popular Sanlitun bar district. “The rest of the workers will leave in the next few days.
“Only a few will be allowed to stay to keep the site clean and I am one of those lucky ones,” he said.
He said cranes at the site had to be lowered by at least 20 metres by noon today.
Liu Jie, another migrant from northeast Jilin province who worked at a residential project near the East Fourth Ring Road, said he would leave the downtown area as soon as he got his wages.
“My fellow workers have all gone back to their hometowns. But I am still waiting for my wages.
“I will have to go soon and I hope I can find some jobs in Tongzhou district in the city’s eastern suburbs,” he said.
“We were told to have some rest at home, but we did not get a penny in compensation for our losses.
“We need to make money to raise our children rather than take holidays at our own expense.
“Few of us are willing to go home so most of my co-workers decided to go to other cities to find temporary jobs,” he added.
He noted that the traffic restrictions affecting trucks – the major means of transporting building supplies – had dealt a heavy blow to projects and workers.
“All construction sites are short of building materials after the traffic restrictions and prices of those items necessary for infrastructure projects have been pushed up drastically in the past few weeks,” he said.
Migrant workers are not the only ones paying dearly for the sake of the Olympics.
Dai Jie, an engineer at machinery supplier Zoomlion, said his company, which operated over 100 concrete mixing stations for building sites across the city, has been deeply affected.
“Our customers have received written notices informing them of the two-month ban. Fines up to 10,000 yuan (HK$11,460) will be levied for sites that dare to violate the ban,” Mr Dai said.
Olympic-related projects were unfazed yesterday by the cleanup deadline announced in March. Glaziers were still working on the walls of China Central Television’s twisted glass-and-steel tower, while the giant transport hub at Dongzhimen, which opened during the weekend, was only half-finished.
But some projects that are not linked to the Olympics have also been given an extended deadline till the end of the month, according to Mr Dai.
Like the building ban, stringent traffic restrictions, including the use of special lanes for Olympic traffic in some congestion-plagued streets, were also criticised by many, especially motorists.
“I don’t see any reason to enforce the Olympic traffic lanes so early, as the Olympic village has yet to open in a week,” said Wu Baolin, a taxi driver.
“It may be well-intended, but it will definitely not help ease the city’s traffic jams.”
Games organisers have cordoned off 286km of lanes, which cover Changan Avenue, the second, fourth, fifth ring roads, to reduce congestion for athletes, officials, dignitaries and accredited media.
Drivers have been warned of fines between 200 yuan and 1,800 yuan or even arrest for being caught in the wrong lane. Officials said the lanes were clearly marked, but drivers yesterday complained that signs were difficult to recognise and confusing.
Additional reporting by Woods Lee