In recent international news, a 300 million dollar bridge collapsed
in the northeast city of Harbin, China. The Yangmingtan Bridge, which was over
nine miles long, was supposed to take at least three years to construct. To the
local’s surprise, the mammoth infrastructure was finished in half the time it
should’ve taken. The construction workers were mistreated by not allowed to go
home during the duration of the project. They were not given holidays off. They
were even forced to work weekends. They were kept from their families and lives
for over a year. Last week an entrance ramp for the massive bridge gave in
killing three people and leaving five injured. The government gave what could
be considered a sad excuse for this tragedy. They claimed it was due to large trucks
being filled over capacity; the residents thing otherwise. Residents think the
cause of the bridge failing was caused by government corruption.
If this was an isolated incident maybe the Chinese locals
would be more understanding and actually believe the government. Since 2011,
eight bridges have gone down across the country. One of the incidents included
cables snapping on a suspension bridge hurling a large piece of the roadway
into a river. A more recent occurrence was in March of 2012 when a bridge that
was under construction snapped in half. In my opinion, government projects that
cost millions of dollars are supposed to make life easier and safer for
citizens but that just is not the case here. The Chinese government has really let
their people down and how long will it be until insufficient government project
cause the death of millions?
