China News Service, May 9 (Xinhua) — According to a message from the WeChat public account of the Housing Authority of Fengtai District, Beijing, regarding the incident of unauthorized excavation of an underground passage at Youzhu Community in Yard No. 2 of Fengqiao Road, the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Commission of Fengtai District, Beijing, and the Housing Authority of Fengtai District, Beijing, reported the relevant situation as follows:

　　Youzhu Community is located in Yard No. 2 of Fengqiao Road, Fengtai District. The development and construction unit of the community is Beijing Jinlanfu Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., and property services are provided by Beijing Jinlvzhou Property Management Co., Ltd. The basement supporting the community on the north side of Building C of Building 2 in Youzhu Community, which is involved in the incident, is located beneath the green space on the north side of Building 2 and is a building owned by the development and construction unit, Beijing Jinlanfu Real Estate Development Co., Ltd.

　　Since receiving reports on May 3 concerning the unauthorized excavation of an underground passage and damage to a load-bearing wall at Youzhu Community, the comprehensive administrative law enforcement department of the territorial Xincun Subdistrict immediately went to the site for verification. Preliminary verification found that, in order to connect the basement involved in the incident with the underground garage of Building 2, Beijing Jinlvzhou Property Management Co., Ltd., without obtaining a construction permit, excavated an underground passage without authorization under the pretext of repairing underground pipelines and attempted to open a doorway at the location of a load-bearing wall in the underground garage. Comprehensive administrative law enforcement officers, together with police officers from the police station who arrived at the scene, ordered the work to stop on the spot in accordance with the law, temporarily seized construction tools, and subsequently sealed off the construction site.

　　Upon verification by the Fengtai District Housing and Urban-Rural Development Commission together with the Fengtai Branch of the Beijing Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Commission, the territorial subdistrict, and other parties, Beijing Jinlvzhou Property Management Co., Ltd. had not obtained the Construction Project Planning Permit and had excavated without authorization an underground passage 23 meters long, 1 meter wide, and 1.8 meters high. On May 6, in accordance with the Provisions of Beijing Municipality on Prohibiting Illegal Construction, the act was determined to constitute illegal construction.

　　To eliminate safety hazards, relevant parties immediately organized the backfilling of the underground passage starting on the 6th, filling the lower part with concrete and the upper part with earth in accordance with technical requirements, with completion expected within this week.

　　On May 7, the Fengtai District Housing and Urban-Rural Development Commission, together with the Law Enforcement Division of the Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Commission, the District Housing Authority, the territorial subdistrict, and the professional appraisal agency Beijing Keyuan Zhiheng Appraisal and Testing Technology Co., Ltd., conducted an on-site survey and comparison with drawings and determined that the north side wall of the underground garage at Parking Space No. 146 on the B1 floor of the garage had been artificially cut with 6 through-going slits, with damage dimensions of 1.8 meters in height and 1.45 meters in width. The structural nature of the wall is a shear wall, and the act constitutes unauthorized damage to the load-bearing structure of the building. The damaged wall is a load-bearing wall beneath the community green space, with backfill earth above it, and is 10 meters horizontally from the above-ground main structure of Building 2. According to the preliminary judgment of Beijing Keyuan Zhiheng Appraisal and Testing Technology Co., Ltd., it will not have a major impact on the safety of the main structure of Building 2. At present, functional departments and the owners of Youzhu Community are negotiating the selection and engagement of a building safety appraisal agency and a design unit to carry out building safety testing, repair and reinforcement, and related work. All costs incurred in this process shall be borne by the illegal entity.

　　At present, Fengtai District has organized functional departments and the territorial subdistrict to establish a joint working group to file and investigate this incident and to seriously handle the responsible entities in accordance with laws and regulations. The District Housing and Urban-Rural Development Commission has summoned the illegal counterpart Li Mou and will seriously investigate and punish the act of unauthorized damage to the load-bearing structure of the building in accordance with the law. The District Housing Authority is investigating and handling the performance of duties by the property management company. The comprehensive administrative law enforcement department has ordered the elimination of the illegal state and will impose administrative penalties on the illegal entity in accordance with the Regulations of Beijing Municipality on Urban and Rural Planning.