Chongqing government building trumps school

By Wang Huazhong (chinaculture.org)
Updated: 2009-08-13 10:34

Plans to build a school for 700 students near a Chongqing lake were scrapped because government officials wanted the land for their own use.

The Chongqing municipal government first declared 13 hectares of land alongside Changshou lake as suitable for Changshou middle school on Dec 31, 2004, following a request from the district council.

Today, however, in place of the school stand county government office buildings, the management commission of Changshou Lake scenic zone and a two-story residence connecting both.

"We made the change as part of the overall plan to make Changshou Lake a famous icon of Chongqing," Liu Jianming, head of municipal planning bureau, told China Youth Daily.

According to Liu, the bureau considered the school, which is now located near a dam in the southeast of the county, would recruit more students from border areas if it were positioned in that area.

President of the school, Han Litao, told China Daily Wednesday the new location of the school, which incorporates students from three primary and middle schools, is 800 m from the foot of the dam.

"I don't know if the government had thought about moving us downtown. The dam does not poise any threat to us as it held water above safe levels last September," said Han.

However, the report also said many parents worried about rising water levels and had considered sending their children elsewhere to study.

Jia Jinsheng, secretary-general of Beijing-based Chinese National Committee on Large Dams, said as long as urban planning followed government policies, the school would not be threatened by the nearby dam.

"The city of Beijing is at the foot of Miyun reservoir, and numerous villages and cities are at the foot of the Three Gorges Dam, but we don't worry about bursts in those," he said.

Rainstorm-triggered floods, landslides and mudslides in Chongqing municipality killed at least 10 people earlier this month.