China's disciplinary watchdog has ordered a thorough investigation into government buildings constructed after January 1, 2005 and those currently under development after the recent scandal in which more than 20 officials were punished for ordering the construction of lavish official buildings.
 
The Central Commission of Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China said the inspection was being conducted to find out whether some government buildings are excessively in terms of size, decoration and number of facilities.
 
The government has set a limit of 4,000 yuan (US$512) per square meter for the construction of ministerial level buildings.
 
The investigation will also target projects which were carried out with the help of bank loans, collection of unwarranted money, donations and embezzlement of government poverty-alleviation and disaster-relief funds, said the CCDI.
 
Local governments have until June 20 to report on official buildings that contravene the regulations although the CCDI statement did not say whether or not local officials would receive more lenient punishments if they came forward voluntarily.
 
China's central government issued a circular last month in response to public discontent, reiterating the ban on construction of wasteful and extravagant official buildings, including departmental hotels and entertainment centers.
 
Excessive space could be confiscated and put up for auction if the constructions violated government rules, according to the circular.
 
The CCDI announced a list of officials in the country's less-developed inland provinces who had been sacked or demoted for wasting funds on the construction of lavish government buildings.
 
The government of Puyang County in central China's Henan province spent 32.84 million yuan (US$4.21 million) on a new office building which covers a total area of 18,746 square meters between 2002 and 2004.
 
And the county officials were found to have misappropriated 7.7 million yuan of pension funds and living subsidies for laid-off workers and collected 1.06 million yuan of unwarranted funds from its lower level units to fill the gap in payments for their office building.
 
In another case, the grain bureau of Shanxi Province misappropriated national grain reserve funds of 1.5 million yuan to construct a 6.9-million-yuan hotel project at a famous scenic spot in Shanxi.

(Xinhua News Agency June 5, 2007)