China employs GPS asset tracking system to stop manhole cover theft

• More than 240,000 manhole covers stolen in Beijing over a 10-year period.

Chinese authorities have come up with various strategies to stop the massive theft of manhole covers in cities following the death of people, including several toddlers, who have died after falling down the open manholes.

Officials have tried employing different tactics in preventing the manhole cover theft, from covering the metal plates with nets to chaining them to street lights, but these have not worked at all.

China is home to a massive scrap metal business that fuels its demand for vital industrial metals such as the manhole covers that are easily converted into cash.

Reports said the eastern city of Hangzhou has embarked on a new way of preventing the theft by planting a GPS chip inside the covers. The GPS asset tracking system used allows the authorities to detect if the cover is lifted or tampered with in any way.

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