China's anti-graft chief He Guoqiang on Tuesday called on authorities to further clean up corruption in the construction sector to protect people's interests and contribute to steady and relatively fast economic development.

The country's discipline inspection authorities had investigated 3,517 graft cases linked to the construction sector since July, and had punished 1,521 people involved, He, head of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said in a meeting in Beijing.

Close to 800 civil servants had been formally prosecuted, said He, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau.

Noting that China's crackdown on construction-related corruption had seen initial success, He admitted that the sector still had "a few noticeable problems" which had upset the market economy order, impaired the interests of the people, and led to corruption problems.

According to He, China had launched a two-year campaign to fight corruption and misconduct in the construction sector, and year 2010 was crucial to this campaign.

Authorities should strengthen supervision over government-invested construction projects and those using state construction funds, he said.

He also urged to step up effectiveness of the supervision and investigation. Government and party department should coordinate with each other in order to ensure the success of the campaign, he said.