Recently, residents of Phase I of the Sanshui affordable housing project reported that due to pile driving at the under-construction Phase III site, some buildings have developed problems such as wall cracks and foundation settlement. The Sanshui Land and Urban Construction Department responded yesterday that the settlement is unrelated to construction and does not affect the structural safety of the buildings.

　　The Sanshui affordable housing and low-rent housing project is located on Xiqing Avenue in the southwest. Phases I and II were completed in 2008 and 2010, respectively. The Phase III construction site is adjacent to the Phase I buildings, and construction was still ongoing yesterday. Resident Ms. Feng of Building 7 said that after pile driving for the Phase III project began last August, some buildings successively developed cracks and settlement.

　　Yesterday morning, the reporter saw at Aunt Cheng's home in Room 605 of Building 7 that a crack about four to five meters long had appeared on the living room wall. Aunt Cheng said it appeared during pile driving last year and is now growing larger. Cracks with obvious water marks also appeared on the ceiling of the sixth floor. According to residents, the buildings directly facing the construction site have the most serious cracks because they are closest to the site.

　　In addition to wall cracks, the more serious problem is foundation sinking. The reporter's visit yesterday found that sunken cracks about 2 to 8 centimeters wide had appeared in front of the doors of the ground-floor bicycle rooms in almost all Phase I buildings. In front of Bicycle Room 129 of Building 7, thick cement had been filled between the building walls and the ground. Cracks of various sizes were visible everywhere on the nearby ground. The owner of Bicycle Room 129, Ms. Zhao, said that previously the gap between the building foundation and the cement ground was as big as a fist. Because she was afraid that young children might accidentally fall into the gap, she and other residents filled the gap with cement. In addition, Ms. Zhao also revealed that termites had been found in several nearby bicycle rooms, and traces of termites were visible everywhere on the walls of the bicycle rooms.

　　Regarding the wall cracks and foundation settlement in Phase I of the affordable housing project, Tang Jianjun, head of the Urban and Rural Construction Section of the Sanshui Land, Urban Construction and Water Affairs Bureau, responded that many complaints had been received from Phase I residents. At present, communication has been carried out with the Phase III contractor, and the contractor promised to resolve the foundation settlement issue in the near future; in addition, professionals have been arranged to exterminate termites.

　　Tang Jianjun told the reporter that building settlement is a normal physical reaction, unrelated to construction pile driving, and does not affect the structural safety of the buildings. "The reason for asking the Phase III contractor to be responsible for construction and repair is mainly that the residents of the affordable housing have relatively low incomes and can hardly fund repairs themselves."