Two deputies from the Shanghai People's Congress are urging the city government to control noise pollution in downtown Shanghai, particularly around residential buildings built near elevated roads.
They wrote proposals to the government suggesting it draw up a comprehensive noise control plan for all new buildings and set up necessary facilities to reduce noise around existing buildings.
"With the rapid urban construction in Shanghai in recent years, more and more parts of the city's downtown have been influenced by noise, most of which comes from traffic facilities," Zhou Qingjiang told Shanghai Daily yesterday on the sidelines of the SPC's annual plenary meeting.
Zhou said complaints about noise account for nearly 50 percent of all grievances from residents this year, while in 1995 they only accounted for about 25 percent.
"Because of the limited amount of land downtown, many high-rises have to be built along or surrounded by the elevated roads, meaning residents are forced to put up with a lot of load noise."
Currently, the city government doesn't have a noise control plan to regulate construction or traffic facilities - including railways, elevated roads, airports and ferry stations.
Additionally, many residents complain about noise from other sources, such as night clubs and even downtown parks where senior citizens often take part in morning exercises.
"To achieve a 'friendly city for the ears,' Shanghai should set a regulation to guarantee a certain distance between traffic and residential construction," Zhou said.
He said that the government of Beijing has already drawn up a noise control plan but Shanghai didn't.
Qian Liping, a deputy from Yangpu District, also submitted a proposal calling on the city government to build more plastic screens along the elevated roads to reduce noise.
"Noise has had a severe influence on people's daily lives as a large batch of newly built residential high-rises are not far from the elevated roads," she said, noting that the city doesn't have a clear regulation to guarantee a certain distance between elevated roads and buildings.
"Despite some parts of the Inner Ring Road have noise screens, the whole road should have them," she said.