An information system in Hebei province has led to better road conditions in rural areas and cut the amount of corruption in road construction over the past two years, during which time about 20,000 kilometers of roads have been added in rural areas, at a cost of 15 billion yuan, according to the provincial transportation department.
There have been many cases of substandard rural roads in China, in the past, with some officials involved in the construction business being accused of corruption. But, over the past two years, Hebei has had no complaints of corrupt officials from villages and the quality has actually risen by about 11 percent.
According to the head of the provincial transportation department, Gao Jinhao, "This is all because of greater information transparency," by which, he meant a system where all the information on the construction process had to be open to the public for supervision, from the first plans to financing, to the bidding, to construction work and the final check.
Gao went on to say that the transparency system worked well and will applied to more road projects in future and that about 30 billion yuan will go to 22 backward counties near the Yanshan and Taihang mountains, with another 12,000 kilometers of roads added by the end of 2020. All of these projects will use the same performance system to guarantee quality and clean management. |
