Officials disciplined over demolition error
Print Edition
ELEVEN officials in Harbin in Heilongjiang Province have been disciplined over the demolition of seven heritage buildings officially recognized as immovable cultural relics, the city’s Party discipline watchdog said yesterday.
The seven buildings, including the former residence of Liu Yalou, one of the People’s Republic of China’s first generals, were located in a shanty town area where the local government had decided to expropriate land for a reconstruction program. They were torn down by a demolition company on June 25, the Party discipline inspection commission of Harbin said in a statement.
An investigation confirmed that Shuangcheng District’s land expropriation office had violated regulations when it signed a contract with an unqualified demolition company and failed to supervise the work properly, said the statement.
Chen Zibiao, the office’s director, was removed from his post, while the vice director of the office and another six officials responsible for housing and construction administration, and cultural relics protection were given demerits on their records and issued warnings.
Mao Chen, the governor of the district, was ordered to publicly apologize, while one deputy governor was asked to write a letter of introspection and another was publicly shamed with a criticism notice. The district government was also ordered to submit a written report about the incident to the city government.
The statement added that the head of the demolition team, surnamed Chang, was arrested because he had told a worker surnamed Li to drive an excavator into the buildings.
As damage to cultural relics is a frequent occurrence, China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage launched a special campaign earlier this month to crack down on crimes related to cultural heritage.
In its first report, which was released on Tuesday, it said the demolition error in Harbin is one of four cases it is addressing.
The administration asked the city government to severely punish the people responsible and asked it to restore the buildings as much as possible.
However, the Shuangcheng District government said the damage was so severe that restoration would be impossible. But it said it will rebuild the structures incorporating materials it has salvaged from the demolition site.
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