China steps up efforts to boost building quality

BEIJING - Chinese authorities announced measures to boost the quality of new buildings on Friday, proposing more effective accountability and harsher punishments for construction code violators.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said it would take measures of "unprecedented scale and force" to better the quality of buildings in a two-year campaign.

A lifelong responsibility system would be established to hold construction, survey, design and supervision firms or institutions accountable for the quality of a building project, according to Ni Hong, spokesperson of the ministry, at a press conference.

Even those people in charge of a construction project retire or leave their original posts, they would still be held accountable if any major safety accidents arise, said Ni.

Illegal subcontracting would also be targeted as about 40 percent of all major safety accidents for buildings can be to some extent traced back to illegal subcontracting, said Wu Huijuan, head of the department of construction market supervision.

There will be harsher punishment for illegal subcontracting starting from Oct 1. Fines would be up to four percent of the value of the construction contract, much higher than the current 10,000 yuan ($1,632) to 30,000 yuan, said Wu.

The ministry will also increase management and technical training for the country's 45 million building workers, according to the officials.

By the end of 2015, a blacklist will be set up to record all those construction companies which have broken laws in terms of quality.