The Beijing municipal government's decision to publish information about key projects it finances is an inspiring step towards transparency.

A document to be released by its development and reform commission will require all key projects that will have a great impact on the ecology, environment and utilization of resources, and those that are closely related to the daily life of local residents, to be described in detail to the public before they are approved by the commission.

A comprehensive overview of the nature, cost, scope and plans for such projects will be put on the commission's website. Residents will have 10 days to offer suggestions, opinions or objections, which the commission will send to the units in charge of these projects and other relevant departments. Those units will be required to explain whether they have adopted particular suggestions or why they have not.

If this move could be carried out to the letter as stated in the document, the capital's residents would no longer be kept in the dark about how the taxes they have paid are being used.

Fixed-asset investment has been on the increase in recent years. The total investment arranged by the commission was 10 billion yuan (US$1.25 billion) in 2002, and the amount has doubled now.

The noise and dust from hundreds of construction sites have become an annoying reality that residents must put up with year after year without even knowing what these projects are and why they are being built. This new policy will at least make such information available.

To avoid such a mechanism being reduced into a mere formality, the channels for publicizing this information must be expanded. Information about some very important projects may be published in papers, inviting suggestions or opinions from the public. Specific measures also need to be mapped out to punish those who fail to adopt good suggestions without sound reasons.

Such a practice should also be exercised by the district governments, which also invest taxpayers' money in many projects, such as renovation of roads or re-construction of residential areas, that directly impact local residents' daily lives. Sometimes a section of road is repaired or renovated for months or even years, seriously affecting traffic and residents' routines.

The municipal government says that this is just one of its moves to increase transparency and supervision for construction projects in the city. So we have reason to hope that more measures are coming to regulate government-invested projects.

(China Daily August 23, 2006)