RESIDENTS complained that the underground tunnels connecting the north side of Binhe Boulevard to Shenzhen Bay Park are filled with garbage and water, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.

    The report said that five underground pedestrian passages were left unattended by cleaners for a long time.

    The tunnels were also filled with dust and smoke, suggesting that someone might have lit a fire.

    The reporter attempted to contact the management center for roads and bridges, but the center said it was not their responsibility to keep the tunnels clean.

    An employee at the center said that they had received complaints about the tunnels Feb. 2. However, no department was assigned to clean the tunnels.

    The employee helped the reporter file a compliant and the Nanshan urban management center called back 10 minutes later, saying they would send cleaners to sweep up the tunnels.

    The management center for roads and bridges said their duties had been transferred to the city’s transportation commission. But the commission later said that their only responsibility is to maintain the facilities inside the tunnels and that does not include cleaning up the tunnels.

    The reporter later approached Nanshan’s sanitation station. Its deputy head said that there were cleaners maintaining the tunnels, but they stopped doing the work for unknown reasons.

    Another section chief, surnamed Wang and from the Shahe Subdistrict, where the tunnels are located, said the subdistrict office should be the department that manages the tunnels if the municipal government had transferred the responsibility to them.

    Wang said it would not be a difficult problem for the subdistrict to solve if the responsibilities were clearly assigned.

    (Zhang Qian)