Authorities concerned by lavish office buildings
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In Hejiang township in Huazhou city, a group of office buildings occupied by the local government was designed to resemble the Forbidden City in Beijing.
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The government building of Hejiang township in Huazhou city. |
Liu Jianfu, a senior researcher with the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, said it's reasonable for local township governments to seek out better office space in good economic times.
"But it has gone too far when their lavish offices can compete with White House, the Forbidden City and the Great Hall of the People," Liu told China Daily on Wednesday.
"The offices have actually made officials seem more separated from local residents, who are still struggling to lift themselves out of poverty," said Liu.
He said officials should think more about bringing prosperity to the local economy and trying to solve the problems of the people, instead of competing with their peers in the construction of extravagant office buildings.
Lin Yehan, a primary school teacher who declined to say where he lives, said township governments should not spend extravagant amounts of money on their own office buildings.
"School buildings and other similar places are still very shabby in Guangdong's rural areas," he said.
"If they have money, township governments should give the top priority to improving schools."
And the construction of lavish office buildings might lead to official corruption and other troubles, he said.
In 2004, Zhang Zhongwen, Party chief of Meinan township of Meixian county, was sentenced to three years in prison after he spent more than 3.81 million yuan to build a luxury office building.
Zhang was convicted of accepting 150,000 yuan in bribes from the contractors who worked on the project.
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