The Beijing Construction Committee is drafting a regulation to restrict the construction of kindergartens, shops and restaurants underground in the capital for safety reasons.

The draft regulation prohibits kindergartens, nursery schools and in-patient departments of hospitals being set up in the basements of buildings.

Recreation sites such as gyms, cinemas and restaurants will be forbidden from being built on the second underground floor or below. Shops and wholesale markets will be banned from the third underground floor or below.

Production, storage and usage of flammable and explosive chemical products, and usage of gasoline, coal and liquefied petroleum gas, will also be forbidden underground.

The regulation also requires the installation of cameras to monitor the main walkways and exits of underground places.

Many serious fires have occurred in recreation places underground in China in recent years. A high density of people, poor fire safety facilities and blocked evacuation channels caused numerous casualties.

(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2006)