Illegal Hutong parking lot filled in

An illegal parking lot built by a resident beneath a downtown Beijing hutong has been refilled, Beijing Times reported on Tuesday.

Police confirmed in October that a Beijing native surnamed Li had excavated the ground beneath two adjacent houses in Shaluo Hutong, Dongcheng district, in order to build a three-story parking lot for a developing car rental business.

"Digging a basement without permission is illegal and is likely to cause surface collapse, and pipes buried underground are likely to be broken," said Zhang Junfeng, a senior engineer with the China Transport Telecommunications and Information Center.

The illegal lot had an area of 700 square meters, and was nearly 10 meters in height at its deepest point, according to Yan Jianheng, director of the demolition office dealing with illegal construction in Dongcheng district.

Li also built a two-story, above-ground building without permission that had an area of about 160 square meters, authorities said.

A real estate agent estimated that the construction cost of the two projects at 887,000 yuan ($136,800).

Li will face a fine up to 90,000 yuan for the construction of the parking lot, according to the district's housing and urban-rural development commission.