| Although 10 parks in Shanghai have extended their opening times to late night, it will be a long time before all local parks stay open longer, city greenery authorities said yesterday.
Some new parks, such as Huashan Park, Xujiahui Park and Sixian Park will stay open to about 10pm, but older parks are not equipped for opening at night, the Shanghai Greenery Administrative Bureau said. Old parks in Shanghai open from 6am to 6pm every day, and closing times are prolonged for an hour during summer. However, security guards said people had been climbing over the fences to enter the parks at night after they were closed. 'If parks are to stay open at night, they must have adequate lighting and security facilities, such as video monitoring systems,' said Gao Xiangwei, an official with the greenery bureau. 'We need a large amount of funds to redecorate and equip the parks.' Yu Li, a member of Shanghai Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultation Conference, this year suggested prolonging the open times of local parks to meet people's needs. The bureau said some parks could be open for night visitors who want to take advantage of service facilities such as cafes and ice cream shops. 'These areas usually have good lighting facilities,' Gao said. 'And it's relatively easy to ensure security in such areas.' 'We will try to make a regulation on the closing times of parks after carrying out trials,' Gao added. (Shanghai Daily August 25, 2008) |
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