BEIJING // Thousands congregated yesterday outside the high-rise building in Shanghai where at least 58 people died in an horrific fire last week, as concerns continued to be raised over lax safety standards in China's building industry.
Yesterday's gathering, coming on the seventh day, a traditional day of mourning in China, saw police pulling away by their collars people who entered a mourning area without flowers, according to reports.
Hundreds of people have left flowers, pictures of those who died, stuffed animals and even cigarettes outside the building in the days since the tragedy.
There were no actual protests, although many residents said the authorities were to blame for the heavy loss of life.
"The rescue was not timely or helpful enough. I don't believe anything the government says," said Wang Yingxing, who lived in the ill-fated apartment block and who lost his wife, Wang Hao, in the blaze.
Mr Wang, who spoke by telephone, said he and other survivors were "not in the mood" to visit the site yesterday.
Yesterday, a man outside the building, who witnessed the fire, echoed this view.
"Shame on them! How dare they say the rescue was successful? We here feel so sorry for those miserable families, but not for the government," he said.
Young people wearing badges that labelled them as "volunteers" passed around black-and-white posters with the words: "Shanghai don't cry: mourn the victims of Shanghai's Jiaozhou road fire."
Senior officials in the Shanghai government were among those who bowed three times in tribute to the dead, according to a China news service report.
"We feel deeply about this. We'll do our best to help you overcome your difficulties," Shanghai's Communist party chief ,Yu Zhengsheng, told victims' families on Friday, according to a Beijing Times report.
Monday's fire left 71 people hospitalised and an unknown number missing, with officials saying most victims died in their homes from smoke inhalation and the heat.
The 13-year-old apartment building, which housed 440 people in 156 flats, was being renovated to improve energy efficiency.
Sparks produced by unlicensed welders have been blamed for igniting wooden scaffolding and nylon netting that was covering the building. At least four welders are among a dozen people arrested after the fire.
Media in China have questioned the complex web of sub-contracting linked to the upgrading work that allowed apparently unlicensed workmen to become involved in the project, despite the $4.5 million (Dh16.53m) contract reportedly being won by a state-owned firm. A lack of oversight by the authorities, and even corruption, have been blamed for allowing safety lapses.
Those carrying out work that led to the fire are mainly migrant labourers on short-term contracts, and complaints were made this week that many smoke on the job and leave flammable materials lying around.
The insulating polyurethane foam being added to the building has also been described as a fire hazard. Similar material was blamed for a 2008 nightclub fire in the southern city of Shenzhen in which 43 people died.
Officials in Beijing have ordered projects like the one being carried out in Shanghai to be put on hold until potential hazards can be rectified. However, work has been allowed to continue in Shanghai, although it was suspended at one time to allow safety reviews.
In the local press, experts have also asked whether the absence of thermal barriers between floors in mainland high-rise buildings make them more vulnerable when a blaze breaks out. These one-metre-thick layers between walls or floors to stop fires spreading are compulsory in Hong Kong.
Anger over last week's tragedy comes as a construction boom of unprecedented scale continues in China, with continued economic growth fuelling the building of vast numbers of high-rise apartment blocks, even though the property market has slowed this year.
The apartment fire came soon after the ending of the World Expo in Shanghai, an event that, like the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, was designed to showcase China's ability to modernise its infrastructure and stage large events. An estimated tens of billions of dollars has been spent on a new airport terminal, new subway lines and other improvements.
* With additional reporting by The Associated Press
EXPATS
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP
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Group B
Uruguay
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Group C
Belarus
UAE
Senegal
Russia
Group D
Brazil
Oman
Portugal
Nigeria
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The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Price, base / as tested: Dh155,000 / Dh205,000
Engine: 3.3-litre, turbocharged V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 370hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 510Nm @ 1,300rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 10.6L / 100km
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
