Massive task underway to clean up city

By Dong Zhen  |   2008-7-6  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

SHANGHAI officials yesterday called on local government departments and other agencies to go all out to improve the public amenity of Shanghai in the lead-up to the 2010 World Expo.

The city has set up a special office to manage and monitor the campaign, named the "600-day Countdown Actions."

The office yesterday held its first meeting, bringing together directors of 37 local departments and managers of big companies.

Under the plan, Shanghai will re-arrange the setting of outdoor advertising, including the removal of about 47,000 advertisements which have been deemed to be disturbing the surroundings.

Major city infrastructure will not be allowed to carry commercial ads, the office said.

Residential buildings around important roads for World Expo access, and all residential high-rises built before 1996, will be spruced up. A total surface area of about 1,000 million square meters on these buildings will be washed and cleaned.

Also to be cleaned are 1,115 downtown spots deemed notorious for their untidy and dirty environment, as well as areas close to the banks of Suzhou Creek and the Huangpu River.

Among dozens of other actions, local authorities will update 20,000 road signs and add and improve green spaces.

The office plans to add 1,039 public toilets in the city.

Noise barriers will be installed on 900 more spots along the city's elevated roads, ring roads and highways.

The city's green spaces will get more maintenance and about 200,000 square meters of vertical gardens will be created.

The city also plans to move many of the overhead power lines underground to improve the city's visual amenity.

Vice Mayor Shen Jun urged local authorities to impose closer and more effective supervision on vehicles dumping construction waste which has been a long-standing headache for the city.