File photo taken on Nov. 28, 2018 shows a parking space for Ofo bikes at Chengdu's Longquan district. [Photo/Jin Shuiping (NBD)]

May 10 (NBD) -- A huge pile of discarded bikes, mostly Ofo-branded, was seen being flattened by excavators and carried away in trucks at an abandoned factory in Wuhou district, Chengdu, capital city of southwestern China's Sichuan province. 

"We've been working here for days, and according to my boss, the bikes are sold as scrap metal," a truck driver who oversees the loading told Western China Metropolis Daily on site. "They take up too much space." 

It is said the bikes were sold at a price of 15 yuan (2.2 U.S. dollars) each. 

When approached by the news outlet, a source with the scrap yard to which the bikes were sold said that they are a partner of Ofo, and the cleanup work was being done upon the request by the local urban management office to clear the piling site. 

But with regard to the recycling price of the junk bikes and whether more Ofo bikes will be scrapped, the source didn't have an answer. 

The scrapping of the bikes soon led to rumors that Ofo will retreat from Chengdu. 

In response, the struggling bike-sharing firm said it is an act under the government supervision. Those scrapped bikes have all reached the end of life, only accounting for a small portion of the company's bike population in the southwestern city. Ofo will endeavor to explore more possibilities in business while continually promoting the bike-sharing service, added the company. 

A pioneer of China's bike-sharing boom, Ofo once boasted a user base of more than 200 million riders and a market capitalization of nearly 3 billion U.S. dollars. 

Through reports in late 2018, National Business Daily noticed Ofo was facing a cash crunch and owing up to 6.5 billion yuan (957.1 million U.S. dollars) in debt. Its founder is now on a government blacklist for unpaid bills, and millions of its users who placed deposits have been demanding their money back.  

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn