The inspection campaign was announced in a statement over the weekend in Wuhan, the capital of central China's Hubei Province, by the State Development Planning Commission (SDPC), the Ministry of Supervision and the Ministry of Finance.

The planned supervision and inspection are vital as many infrastructure and other projects financed with capital from treasury bonds since 1998 will soon be finished, said SDPC Vice-Minister Jiang Xinwei.

The task force will tighten supervision and management over the use of the capital, project construction and quality of engineering and severely deal with any misappropriation of these funds, so as to avoid their ineffective use and redundant construction, according to Jiang.

The Chinese government encourages individuals and organizations to report illegal activities in projects financed with capital from treasury bonds.

Another priority of the task force is to stop the embezzlement of construction funds or random levies made upon them, Jiang said.

China has resorted to a pro-active fiscal policy as its main tool of macroeconomic management since 1998 and treasury bonds have played an important role in promoting economic and social development.

A total of 150 billion yuan (18 billion U.S. dollars) worth of long-term treasury bonds was issued in 2001, bringing the total in bond issues from 1998 through 2001 to 510 billion yuan (61.4 billion U.S. dollars).

(People's Daily April 3, 2002)