Posted on 11/24/2011 5:38:27 PM PST by Hojczyk
This event in and of itself really isn't funny at all (although thankfully nobody was hurt), but, given President Obama's relentless penchant for heralding China as the world leader in infrastructure--and constantly admonishing us that we need to spend and grow our goverenment and 'invest' more taxpayer money in 'projects of the future' even more--I must admit... I'm having a rather hearty laugh at the President's expense right now.
Substandard construction work was blamed Thursday after wind blew parts of the roof off a $2.8 billion terminal at the world's second-busiest airport.
One of the architects behind Beijing Terminal 3, which opened in time for the 2008 Olympics, told the Associated Press that inadequate materials or installation — not design flaws — were to blame for Tuesday's structural failure.
The airport is the result of a frenetic Chinese building boom that has produced numerous architectural marvels, though some of the iconic new projects have been hit by quality and safety problems.
"Though I stood pretty far away, I could see a part of the roof was torn open. The white foam composite was everywhere, even on the runway," a passenger surnamed Li told state newspaper China Daily, which had pictures of the damage.
Whew, that was a knee-slapper. Our President really needs to get over his "we should be more like China" kick. The CCP is all about keeping up appearances, and they don't care how much deception they have to use to do it. Much of China's infrastructure, just like pretty much everything the CCP organizes, is a farce--I've heard first-hand accounts of the many facades that were put over buildings before the 2008 Olympics, and the government treats its billion people like a bunch of sheep. Not to mention, all their subsidizing and central planning is going to catch up with them eventually; their upcoming financial problems are going to make the United States' fiscal fiasco look amateurish.
Fareed Zakaria is deeply saddened.
It is standard practice to glue a rubber roof onto rigid insulation fastened to a metal or concrete roof deck. Just about every commercial roof in America is made that way. There are standards for correctly fastening the insulation to resist uplift loads from wind. The insulation is not a primary structural element. I doubt the Chinese use it as one.
In China, you first say YES to any competitive bid or contract.
You then figure out how to make money on it, and start the negotiations only after you sign the contract....
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