(Ecns.cn)--Wang Mengshu, 73, a professor at the Tunnel and Underground Engineering Research Center at Beijing Jiaotong University, has little time to spend with his granddaughter this summer.
"There are so many subway construction projects across the country that must be investigated," he told the China Youth Daily. So far, 33 cities have submitted proposals, among which 28 have already been approved.
The "subway dream" is spreading rapidly throughout the nation's developing cities. China will spend more than 1 trillion yuan ($146 billion) as it more than triples its subway train network over the next five years, according to Li Guoyong, deputy head of industrials at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
The country will increase the reach of subway tracks beneath its cities to more than 3,000 kilometers by 2015, from 940 kilometers at the end of 2009, Li said. In 2006 there were only ten lines in operation, which increased to 48 in 2010.
"It only takes us ten years to finish a task that developed countries have spent more than 100 years on," Wang told the newspaper. But hidden problems and financial risks behind such rapid construction warrant the public's notice, Wang warned, especially when some cities lack valid reason or cannot meet the requirements for building subways.
Haste makes waste
The cost of building a kilometer of subway in China will reach 500 million yuan, which means 30 kilometers of subway will cost 15 billion yuan, Wang said. That can amount to the entire annual revenue of a middle-sized city.
When faced with the huge costs of subway construction, most cities in developing countries tend to remain cautious. Even in New York, construction of the Second Avenue Subway, which was first proposed in 1929, was stymied for more than 90 years because of the government's concern over budget risks.
But many smaller Chinese cities are showing much less caution about the issue. Excluding some extremely poor cities in South China, almost all of them are pushing to realize their "subway dreams," Wang Chengli, a professor at Central South University, said.
However, some second- and third-tier cities don't even meet the key requirements for building subways, such as abundant financial resources and traffic demand, experts said. One example is Naning city in Guangxi Province, which had annual revenue in 2009 of 23.1 billion yuan. The construction of a subway could cost the city four to five years of its earnings.
In Wang Mengshu's view, the construction of subway lines in some cities has already exceeded their traffic demands. In Wuxi, a city located in eastern China's Jiangsu Province, the hourly volume of passenger flow falls below 30,000, the amount required by the national government for building a subway. But officials there insisted, telling Wang Mengshu "To build it first."
One reason for the haste is that local officials hope the subways will boost their political careers. Some cities have rushed deadlines for construction to fall within the current mayor's term, experts said.
Zhao Yuncheng, deputy chief engineer of Zhengzhou Subway, told the newspaper that the city was planning to revise its original program and double its subway lines to four within five years, as the city cannot lag behind central China's Changsha and Wuhan, both building subway systems at full steam.
As subway facilities and equipment become more and more advanced, their cost could account for 50 percent of the total investment, Wang Mengshu said. "Only 40 percent is reasonable."
"Over 70 percent of electricity will be used to power this complicated equipment," Wang argued, saying that it as a waste.
In addition, some local governments are hoping subways will push up land prices in developing property markets. "That's why some stations are being built at the outskirts of the cities, where land is not occupied," Wang Mengshu said.
