http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/5685963/Nine-held-over-Shanghai-building-collapse.html

Nine held over Shanghai building collapse

The Chinese authorities are holding nine people in connection with the collapse of a 13-storey block of flats, raising fresh questions about corruption and shoddy practices in China's construction industry.

By Peter Foster in Beijing

The collapse at the Lotus Riverside, a complex of 11 residential buildings in Shanghai, early on Saturday morning killed one construction worker and left hundreds of prospective tenants angrily demanding their money back.

China's official news agency, Xinhua, said officials were taking "appropriate control measures" against nine people, including the developer, construction contractor and supervisor of the project after it was reported that the company's construction license had expired in 2004.

The collapse shocked many in China where construction failures are relatively common in inland areas, but not expected in showcase cities such as Shanghai which will host the 2010 World Expo.

On Monday, just two days after the Shanghai collapse, rescuers were searching a river in northeast China after a section of a road bridge gave way, sending seven vehicles into the water below.

Local sources said the bridge in Tieli, a city in Heilongjiang province, had been built in 1973 but repaired as recently as 1997.

Preliminary investigations found that the Shanghai building fell over after workers began excavating an underground garage for the complex, causing the bank of the river next to the complex to collapse.

Hundreds of prospective tenants besieged government offices demanding refunds for apartments in the same complex which they had already purchased for upwards of £40,000 but were now too frightened to live in.

China Daily, the state-run newspaper, penned an angry editorial decrying the often corrupt nexus between Chinese property developers and local government officials who depend on property taxes and land sales for a significant proportion of their income.

The paper raised fears – expressed by some construction industry insiders in China – that many buildings designed to have a 70-year lifespan "would not stand firm beyond 30 to 40 years" because of corner-cutting during China's rampant construction boom.

"It is ironic that such an accident happened in Shanghai – one of the most advanced and international Chinese cities," the paper concluded.

"The sheer fact that such a collapse occurred in the country's biggest metropolis should serves as warning to all developers and the authorities to ensure that construction projects do not cut corners and endanger people's lives."