One man’s effort to get an elevator in community
Print Edition
FORTY years ago, Ma Shanxiang, a talented engineer, was involved in the research and manufacturing of China’s first nuclear-powered submarine. Now retired, Ma is the director of the residential owners’ committee of Nujiangyuan in Changzheng Town, Putuo District. Over the years, he has won the support and respect of all residents just by his hard work.
On March 8, 2015, the residents of Nujiangyuan celebrated a special day. On that day, work started on the construction of a residential elevator in the No. 7 building. It was the city’s first elevator that was completely funded by the residents.
Ma attributes it to the mutual understanding and trust of residents. However, without his endeavor, especially working on convincing and trying to get the cooperation of the residents, the elevator would not have been installed.
According to regulation, for installing a residential elevator, it must have the approval of an overwhelming majority of residents.
It took Ma around three months to persuade residents on the lower floors to give their approval for the planned elevator. He finally managed to convince them, getting full support from the 12 households of the No. 7 building.
A good 75 percent of residents gave their approval for the project.
But that was the first task. An even difficult task was getting funding for the project.
The owners’ committee, neighborhood committee and the property management company managed to raise some cash from local financial institutions but it just covered 40 percent of the cost. The rest had to be raised by the residents themselves.
At that time, Ma was struggling with a severe case of diabetes. He didn’t follow the doctor’s advice, instead, he kept talking and tried to coordinate with the residents on his own. Thanks to his efforts, all the money needed for installing the elevator was raised.
As an old residence with decades of history, the structure and facilities of Nujiangyuan were also aging. There were problems about subsidence, cracks in the walls, water pipe leakage that greatly endangered the lives of the residents.
Ma and his team investigated and checked the problems at more than 140 apartments. He listed all the problems and persuaded the property management company to fix and maintain the house to the best of their abilities.
It is known that car parking fee was important and expensive for residents. However, the records of the property management company were not transparent, and many residents were reluctant to trust the company.
Ma and other members of the owners’ committee spent days checking all the parking lots of the residence. Every morning he would count the number of the cars, and later drew a detailed draft about all the parking lots. He urged the company to release each item of accounts and took back some proceeds from car parking for residential maintenance funds.
“Property management companies in China do not come under effective legal supervision,” Ma says. “Supervision should be enhanced mainly for its fees and quality of service.”
Ma and the residents organized “open tender” for a more professional property management company. The new company will be under the supervision of the owners’ committee.
Ma is unrelenting in his efforts to better manage the residential community.
He reveals that three more buildings in the neighborhood are expected to be equipped with elevators next year. He wants more public awareness for aging people, who make up a big proportion in his community.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
