[Radix] Re: Chinese experts involved in international school safety guideline creation???

[James Lewis]

With reference to the Ben/George current exchange of views:

Whatever is the status of "rights", of concern is 
the denial of the rights of others by the greed 
and self interest of some. Though there is as yet 
no (can be no) evidence of the amounts of money 
creamed off school construction budgets, there 
are informed accounts of the sums taken overall, 
such as in China: "...direct costs of corruption 
in 2003 could be 3 percent of GDP, roughly $86 
billion, an amount exceeding the government’s 
entire spending on education in 2006"; and 
"Corruption in China is concentrated in the 
sectors with extensive state involvement: 
infrastructural projects, sale of land user 
rights, real estate, government procurement, 
financial services, and heavily regulated 
industries" (both from Pei: see Radix article). 
In view of statements such as these, it is 
unrealistic to assume that school construction in 
China could have escaped serious depletions of 
funding for new schools, either at central or at 
local government levels, or both.

Where this happens, anywhere, because there is 
less money and regardless of what former 
specifications had stated, quality of 
construction is reduced, and in earthquakes 
especially, it is construction quality that 
counts. Steel reinforcement in concrete, for 
example, is a relatively expensive item to 
procure, time consuming and therefore costly to 
install and, significantly, easy to do without at 
the time and quickly covered by the pouring of 
concrete with which it is encased. Precast 
concrete (pc) units have the advantage of 
"factory" production, control and inspection but 
on-site fixings between units are, again, time 
consuming, relatively high cost therefore, and 
omissions are quickly covered over by subsequent 
trades. Cost savings such as these would be seen 
as necessary, also, by a contractor who had paid 
back-handers to get the contract, for permission 
to build, or to construction inspectors (if there 
are any) to turn the other way.

Community participation exists, as so often 
reported by foreign journalists to world media; 
frequently a powerful expression of people power 
and common sense in observations of perceived 
shortcomings in construction. Observations of 
"concrete" that has crumbled in the absence of 
steel and/or cement, dangling pc units that have 
disconnected, and sand-cement screed (finishing 
surface layer) that has turned to dust, again for 
want of cement, are all relevant - but are from 
the aftermath. Similarly, it doesn't take a 
highly trained eye to see from media images the 
same things, also in the aftermath. But response 
at the time from authorities, inspectorates or 
police, any or all of whom may be complicit, 
appears insufficient or none existent. Instead, 
there's one account of the fight by one builder 
to secure the quality in its construction of one 
school at the epicentre that survived the China earthquake.

There is a world of difference between suspect 
practices on site, and the external pressures 
that are so often their cause; from cartels and 
back-handers to blatant, systemic and habitual 
misappropriation of funds. The power and scale of 
corruption is overwhelming; when it pervades 
central government as well as local government 
and inspectorates, there is little hope for 
success in building safety until its exposure and 
eradication is identified and achieved. That 
means not just law-making, of which there are 
1,200 in China against corruption alone (Pei), 
but their realistic implementation as well - 
difficult when the makers and the implementors of 
laws are themselves part of corruption's web.

Structural engineer Alpaslan Özerdem suggested 
some years ago a public better informed on 
matters of building construction (with reference 
to Turkey: Radix article. Will Turkey's aspired 
EU membership bring change ?). Early instruction 
on building construction (in school ?) would 
commence a process where an informed public could 
oversee construction - but there needs also to be 
an independent inspectorate receptive enough to 
receive complaints and authoritative enough to 
immediately stop construction so that 
investigation can be made, and a free media (not 
owned by the corrupt) to expose complicity and to 
back-up public participation - so that we do not 
have to see and read of results of shortcomings 
after the destruction and the deaths they have caused.

Sincerely and with regards -

James
    
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