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)