SHENZHEN Vice Mayor Zhang Siping on Monday criticized firms constructing Metro lines for their negligence, which he said caused cave-ins at two under-construction sections of the Line 1 extention project earlier this month.

“There are loopholes in design,” Zhang said during an inspection of the accident sites in Nanshan and Bao’an districts Monday. “Constructors and project supervisors should take the blame for bad management.”

“I am still scared thinking of what happened days ago. We cannot afford any accident,” he added.

A 43-meter-long section between Liyumen and Xin’an stations collapsed at 11 a.m. March 9, cutting power supply to the area. No casualties were reported.

Another section of the Metro Line 1 extention near the Qianhai Garden housing complex in Nanshan District collapsed at 7 a.m. March 10, causing a nearby road to sink by 10-30 meters. None of the 100 workers at the site were injured. Residents of Qianhai Garden were evacuated.

The extension of the existing Line No. 1 will run from Window of the World to the Shenzhen International Airport. Line 1 currently runs between the Shenzhen Railway Station in Luohu District and Window of the World.

The 26-kilometer extention will have 15 stations and is expected to be completed by 2010. The total length of the city’s Metro lines will be 177 kilometers by 2010, twice as long as in Hong Kong.

Shenzhen became the fifth Chinese city to have an underground railway system when Line 1 was put into use in 2004.(SD News)