Harsher punishments for destroying protected historic buildings
People who destroy protected historic buildings in Shanghai will face more severe punishments, the city's urban planning administrators said on Thursday.
In June last year, a protected building on Julu Road designed by Hungarian architect Laszlo Hudec was torn down by its owner without permission. The owner was fined 30.5 million yuan (US$4.4 million) and was ordered to completely restore the building to its original look within 10 months.
The administrators didn't reveal the new punishments, but said the offenders will have to pay a price that's "in tandem with the social and economic development of the city." According to current rules, offenders can be fined up to five times the cost of rebuilding a demolished building.
"That incident is a reminder to us that we need to more closely monitor the status of the historic buildings," said Yang Lianping, vice director of the urban planning bureau.
It's expected that the revised rules will expand protected objects from buildings and areas to streets, rivers and residential blocks.