View

From the chinese press

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-12-23 07:55

Open buying or open corruption

A local government in Liaoning province recently bought iTouch 4 at an exorbitant rate. Netizens have alleged that the local officials paid 10 times more than the price of normal USB flash drives, says an article in Beijing News. Excerpts:

The local government of Fushun city bought iTouch 4 for 2,300 yuan each, nearly 10 times the price of ordinary USB flash drives. Many people have blamed local officials of misusing the finance budget for their own interests.

According to a survey, the administrative expense in China increased 87 times from 1978 to 2003. Purchases like those in Fushun may be one of the reasons behind such rapid increase in expenses.

Corruption in government procurement takes place in the name and framework of "open purchase". The purpose of open purchase is to invite public supervision, which means the government should judge the pros and cons of a product and its market value before buying it and making the deal public.

In Fushun's case, the local officials may consider the iTouch 4 a fair and reasonable purchase. They may regard it as an "open purchase" without accepting public supervision. This is similar to some local governments' confusing financial report. Local governments have to realize that the public has become more responsible and sensitive now. According to the government procurement law, those who arbitrarily increase purchase standards are liable to be punished.

Making a purchase public does not necessarily mean a department is practicing openness. The purchase also has to be reasonable and pass the supervision of the public.

Coal trouble in cold weather

Come winter and the demand for power rises disproportionately to supply. Some experts wrongly believe that the problem can be solved only by fixing power tariff according to market rules, says an article in Huaxi Metropolis Daily. Excerpts:

The rise in the demand for coal in winter has become a yearly phenomenon. Some experts have suggested electricity tariff should be raised to deal with power and coal shortage. Even the China Electricity Council, on behalf of power plants, has appealed to the National Development and Reform Commission to raise electricity tariff.

But the reason for shortage of coal every winter is not related to production. Rather, it is related to the difficulty in transporting coal to distant places in winter because of snow and sleet.

The situation can be improved by solving the problem of long-term transportation, not by increasing power tariff. The shortage of coal in winter has nothing to do with power tariff, which the experts claim is lower than the market price.

The most effective way to deal with the problem is for power plants to get coal from nearby places. And the authorities can help deal with the problem by reducing transportation costs.

Hence, it's not right for the experts to talk about raising electricity tariff. They should know that higher power tariff will make ordinary people's life more difficult.