{"id":160314,"date":"2013-07-23T21:10:54","date_gmt":"2013-07-24T04:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=160314"},"modified":"2020-09-30T16:46:40","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T23:46:40","slug":"xi-5-year-ban-on-new-govt-buildings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/07\/xi-5-year-ban-on-new-govt-buildings\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Year Ban Imposed on New Government Buildings"},"content":{"rendered":"
Central authorities issued a directive on Tuesday banning the construction of new governmental buildings for five years<\/strong><\/a>. Xinhua gives details:<\/p>\n The directive called on all CPC and government bodies to be frugal and ensure that government funds and resources be spent on developing the economy and boosting the public’s well-being.<\/p>\n [\u2026] According to the directive, the construction, purchase, restoration or expansion of office compounds that is done in the guise of building repair or urban planning is strictly forbidden.<\/p>\n The directive also bans CPC and government organizations from receiving any form of construction sponsorship or donations, as well as collaborating with enterprises, in developing construction projects. <\/p>\n While allowing restoration projects for office buildings with dated facilities, the directive stresses that such projects must be exclusively aimed at erasing safety risks and restoring office functions. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The BBC gives examples\u2014with photos\u2014of some luxury governmental buildings<\/strong><\/a> that have stirred up public anger in recent years:<\/strong><\/p>\n Among the buildings that have attracted widespread disapproval in recent years is the western-style government office building in the city of Fuyang in Anhui province, in eastern China.<\/p>\n It reportedly cost 30 million yuan ($4.89m, \u00a33.19m) to build and is referred to as the ‘White House’ by residents.<\/p>\n A state-owned drug company also caused outrage after photographs emerged apparently showing a building decorated to mimic France’s Versailles palace, complete with gold-tinted walls and chandeliers. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n See more examples of “face projects”<\/a> via CDT.<\/p>\n The ban is seen as a move to appease public anger over corruption<\/strong><\/a>, as\u00a0Ben Blanchard writes at Reuters:<\/p>\n Numerous scandals in recent years have centered on extravagant expenditure on new government buildings by officials, often in poverty-struck inland regions.<\/p>\n […]\u00a0Xi, who took office in March, has made the fight on graft a key objective of his administration, and the party has already targeted everything from the use of government cars to liquor served at official banquets.<\/p>\n Corruption is so bad it could hurt the party’s grip on power, Xi has warned although so far few high-level officials have been caught in his dragnet and the party has shown no sign of wanting to set up an independent graft-fighting body. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n At the same time, rising local government debt is another likely driver of the current frugality campaign<\/strong><\/a>. From\u00a0Jun Luo at Bloomberg:<\/p>\n Total local government debt may have risen 13 percent to 12.1 trillion\u00a0yuan<\/a>\u00a0in 2011 and 2012, Moody\u2019s Investors Service estimated in June, adding to risks that the central government will be forced to bail out local authorities and take over their liabilities.<\/p>\n Local finance departments shouldn\u2019t release funding for projects without proper approvals, and land agencies shouldn\u2019t grant property-use rights, according to the statement. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Central authorities issued a directive on Tuesday banning the construction of new governmental buildings for five years. Xinhua gives details: The directive called on all CPC and government bodies to be frugal and ensure that government funds and resources be spent on developing the economy and boosting the public’s well-being. [\u2026] According to the directive, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1061,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2,14744,14745,14746,100,5],"tags":[318,3876,2240,203,4538,14722,14784,4516,4674],"class_list":["post-160314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy","category-level-2-article","category-level-3-article","category-level-4-article","category-politics","category-society","tag-ccp","tag-ccp-central-committee","tag-central-government","tag-corruption","tag-corruption-buildings","tag-debt","tag-local-government","tag-vanity-projects","tag-xi-jinping","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n