Shenzhen needs better measures to deal with construction waste: CPPCC members

Shenzhen needs to improve its urban management as the city moves to build an international, modern and innovative city, members of Shenzhen Committee of The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) said.

Property developers in Shenzhen should be encouraged to build ground parking lots in an effort to deal with the increasing amount of construction waste, Zhang Yuqiang, a member of the city's top political advisory body said.

"With the acceleration of the urbanization process, Shenzhen is facing growing challenges in dealing with construction waste. The December 20 landslide that hit Shenzhen's Guangming New District is a clear example," said Zhang Yuqiang, who is also deputy director of policy consultation commission of the city's housing and construction department.

Construction of underground parking space is one of the main sources of construction waste, he said.

"For every one square meter parking space, four cubic meters of soil needed to be dug out, and there is not enough space for dumping this waste," Zhang told China Daily on Friday.

Zhang said the root cause of the situation lies in the regulations on plot ratio. According to the current regulation, property developers are not allowed to alter the plot ratio when utility rights of the land are transferred.

"So developers have to build underground parking lots in order to raise plot ratio and increase their profits."

In his proposal, Zhang suggests to revise the current regulation, encouraging developers to build ground parking lots and not including them in the calculation of the plot ratio.

A devastating landslide caused by illegal dumping of construction waste hit Shenzhen last month, killing more than 70 people and destroying or damaging 33 buildings.

2016 is Shenzhen's year of "urban management and governance", said a Shenzhen top political advisor.

"We will focus on the consultation and supervision of urban management and governance issues, organize CPPCC members to strengthen research and study, find out shortcomings and give out useful suggestions," said Dai Beifang, chairman of the city's CPPCC.

Dai made the remarks at the opening of the 2nd session of the city's top political advisory body on Friday.

More than 400 CPPCC members attended the annual conference, which will last till Monday.