The new party chief of the railways ministry, Sheng Guangzu, has pledged his new team will not become personally involved in the ministry’s lucrative construction contracts, a hotbed for corruption that allegedly led to the downfall of his predecessor.
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Railway chief pledges war on corruption
New party head warns of ‘major battleground’
Toh Han Shih
15 February 2011
The new party chief of the railways ministry, Sheng Guangzu, has pledged his new team will not become personally involved in the ministry’s lucrative construction contracts, a hotbed for corruption that allegedly led to the downfall of his predecessor.
Speaking in a national teleconference on Sunday night with railway officials - his second meeting after Liu Zhijun’s dismissal - Sheng said: “I, together with the ministry’s party leadership, resolve not to get involved in rail projects, and I am asking all the ministry’s members to hold my words to account.”
He said in the tendering of rail contracts and procurement of raw materials and components, railway officials must not exert illegal influence, exercise improper approvals or conduct illegal private transactions.
Corruption was a severe problem in the massive railway expansion programme, he added. “The railway engineering and construction sector is a major battleground in the fight against corruption,” Sheng said.
Liu’s downfall is partly due to a construction material tender for a high-speed railway project, according to mainland media reports.
In the second half of last year, Liu was questioned several times by the authorities over the tender.
Liu is also linked to Ding Shumiao, also called Ding Yuxin, a businesswoman from Shanxi province.
In 2009, one of Ding’s companies won three contracts to supply equipment for the high-speed rail lines from Wuhan to Shenzhen and from Zhengzhou to Xian, according to mainland reports.
In a statement on the railway ministry’s website, Sheng also said the government would continue with plans for a massive expansion of the country’s already huge railway system, but that safety concerns would be paramount.
“(We) must ensure railway construction is pushed forward to a high standard and with high quality and high efficiency,” Sheng said.
“Quality is the life of a construction project and safety is the highest priority of railway construction. (We) must place quality and safety at the centre of construction projects.”
Railways vice minister Lu Chunhua told the meeting: “Currently, the safety and quality problems in rail construction are extremely serious.
“The management of safety and quality needs a lot of improvement.” Zheng Tianxiang, a transport professor at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, said: “Liu is under suspicion for corruption over high-speed railways.
“There are some high-speed rail contracts that were granted to some companies through bribery.
“With corruption, the safety and quality of railways will suffer. People will cut costs and lower quality.”
Nonetheless, Sheng said the pace of high-speed rail construction must be accelerated and major high-speed railway projects must be completed on schedule.
In December, Vice-Premier Zhang Dejiang said the central government placed top priority on high-speed rail development.
China has built the world’s longest high-speed rail network - more than 8,000 kilometres - under Liu.
The government aims to have 13,000 kilometres of high-speed rail line by next year and will spend 3.5 trillion yuan (HK$4.1 trillion) on expansion of the network in the next five years.
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