A synthetic running track is dug up at a school in Beijing last week. (Photo: China Daily/Weitong)
Supervision urged
Industry insiders say the loopholes in standards and the lack of transparent supervision in the bidding process for school construction projects have opened a door for unscrupulous contractors to make a profit at the expense of students' safety.
The cost of safe, high-quality processed surfaces is about 300 yuan ($46) per square meter, according to Liu Haipeng, an official with the National Sports Facility Standardization Committee: "But some manufacturers offer much cheaper products containing excessive amounts of hazardous chemicals to lure education authorities and schools with low budgets."
Liu estimated that about 3,000 private materials manufacturers are operating without the necessary technical certificates, accounting for almost half the market share of the synthetic ground-surface industry.
Liu Dongwei, chief architect at the China Architecture Design and Research Group, urged stricter scrutiny of the bidding processes for such projects.
"Whoever offers the lowest price wins the bid, regardless of quality. It's a common practice. To ensure better quality, the higher-level authorities should strengthen supervision of local education departments in the bidding process, along with the assessment of contractors' qualifications," he said.
Pilot regional guideline implemented
Last month, the education commission of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, implemented a new set of standards to cover the bidding process, raw material production, installation and post-construction testing of synthetic sports fields.
It was the first time a city in China had imposed a regional rule related to the issue that is tougher than the current national guidelines.
The new rule came in response to a government investigation which discovered that 11 schools in the city used low-quality facilities that contained excessive toxic chemicals. Three of the 11 sites have now been dug up.
According to the Shenzhen Institute of Building Research, which jointly drafted the standards, the new guideline has added seven categories to its national counterpart, including quality control of chemicals in raw materials, post-construction testing and project supervision.
"However, this is a trial measure that we have to implement before the new national standards to guarantee students' health. The guideline took notice of similar rules overseas and should be updated regularly, given the rising use of new, potentially toxic, materials," said Ren Jun, the institute's chief engineer.
