Wang also said yesterday that authorities were keen to provide better social services for migrant workers.

While the government has set up 4,000 support centers to help them find homes and work, more needs to be done in terms of job training and education, he said.

"About 70 percent of the 400,000 children of migrant people in Beijing go to public schools and enjoy the same education as their urban counterparts. That proportion will continue to rise," he said.

Last year, the government spent 80 million yuan ($11.4 million) on building roads, putting up lighting, renovating public toilets and regulating garbage disposal where migrants live, Wang said.

Meanwhile, in a further bid to improve security during the Olympics, the Ministry of Public Security and the People's Bank of China at the weekend launched a nationwide campaign against crime involving bank cards.

Olympic host cities will be the campaign's focus, a circular issued by the two departments said.

Card fraud, the manufacture of fake foreign bank cards and crimes involving ATMs are the major targets of the campaign, the circular said.

In the first half of last year, police uncovered more than 1,100 card fraud cases, according to the security bureau.

(China Daily April 8, 2008)