Building bridges on garbage - Bill Dodson

Bill Dodson

Quality is an ongoing problem in China, and business veteran Bill Dodson reports on his weblog about the habit of filling railway bridges not with concrete, but with trash. Old habit die hard, he sights.

Bill Dodson:

I wrote about this sort of padding two years ago in an article for CHaINA magazine, when there was a rash of bridge collapses. Though officials were censured and construction companies fined, seems old habits die hard. Of course, the last thing the nation’s leaders need is for this to be found on their coveted high-speed railway. 

Nevertheless, the company responsible for the garbage bridges, China Railway Material Commercial is pushing ahead with a Rmb14.7 billion ($2.3 billion) IPO in Shanghai. 

A migrant worker who helped build the bridges said to Chinese media, “I wouldn’t dare to take the train once it’s finished.” 

A wise man indeed.

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Bill Dodson is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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