YANTIAN District may start collecting fees for the Dameisha beach park during the holidays between May and October starting from next year.

    The district government has handed in an application of a staggered fee collection proposal for approval by the city government, according to Du Ling, Yantian District Party chief.

    The move is to solve traffic congestion and safety problems caused by overcrowding on the beach during the holidays especially during May Day and National Day holidays, which witness about 100,000 visitors a day.

    “The district is seeking suggestions from the lawmakers, related agencies and the public to impose the rule, which needs a public hearing and the approval by the pricing department,” Du said.

    The Dameisha park has a beach area of 100,000 square meters and its reasonable capacity should be just 10,000 visitors.

    The beach management will adopt an online ticket reservation system to control the number of visitors. The park will upgrade tourism facilities and parking places with an investment of 120 million yuan (US$17.91 million) this year. It will build underground parking places by renovating present parking lots. A two-story parking garage will be built under the Meisha Primary School.

    Some residents support the fee collection rule as it could better protect the beach and other opposed it saying it is the only free beach park in the city and shouldn’t collect fees. Some cities like Hong Hong, which has more than 40 free beaches, argue that management is more important than fee collection in tackling chaos and overcrowding. Some residents think that if Shenzhen opens more beaches for free, Dameisha beach won’t be so crowded. (Han Ximin)