As part of the rectification endeavors, the Ministry of Construction will improve the bidding process, which should be placed under public supervision. The decisions were announced by the Minister Yu Zhengsheng at yesterday's national conference to motivate designing, planning and construction authorities, companies and other intermediary agencies at all levels to participate in the battles against irregularities in building markets.

Yu admitted that "the present building market is somewhat chaotic" because of regional protectionism, monopolies and under-the-counter deals and defiance of laws and regulations related to construction.

"It is necessary and urgent for us to start the campaign to regulate and supervise the market," Yu said.

Yu said the endeavour is an important part of the central government's market-rectification effort initiated at the beginning of this month.

The State Council recently made public lists of regulations to standardize rules of the markets and ensure production safety in workplaces and other locations, according to Yu.

"Those regulations and construction laws are the weapons in our hands to curb the irregularities," Yu said.

Meanwhile, any irregularities and illegal actions by administrative and legal staff are at the top of the list of things to be corrected in this campaign.

An unstructured bidding process for construction contracts is a big concern of some officials at the conference.

Vice-minister Zheng Yijun maintained that public bidding for construction contracts is helpful to foster fair competition among firms in the building sector. It also controls costs and guarantees the quality of projects.

"However, in recent years, while the practice of public bidding has been introduced, it has been undermined by some local governments, designing agencies and developers," Zheng said.

As a result, the building market remains uncontrolled to some degree.

Companies have been known to put pressure on officials to turn public bidding into invitation-only bidding, said Zheng. In some cases, they have even secretly worked to place their own people in a position to determine the outcome of a bid.

According to the new regulations, all the departments concerned must strengthen supervision and enforcement of bidding laws and stop such illegal activities, which are rampant in many areas of the country.

"The chaotic nature of the sector breeds corruption and threatens the safe and efficient use of State construction funds and worse, the situation can often lead to shoddy constructions quality, which in turn leads to disasters," Zheng said.

(China Daily 04/24/2001)