In an interview with the press, Guo Shuyan, deputy director of the Three Gorges Project Construction Committee of the State Council, said the audit conducted by the National Audit Office resulted that a total of 473 million yuan put aside for the migration resettlement of the Three Gorges Project had been unruly misappropriated up to the end of 1999.
Guo said that the funds embezzled account for 8.8 percent of the total 5.36 billion yuan as audited. After the meeting of auditing and readjustment held in the first half of this year, 95 percent of the funds have so far been retrieved.
He made it clear that unlike the prevailing rumors that the funds were completely grafted or occupied by some officials, rather they were unruly misused. Of the total amount misused, 19% were used without authorization for adjusting the yearly resettlement plan and another 19 percent were diverted for the use of tax for occupied arable land.
Guo said that the funds were mainly misused for the following purposes: the resettlement funds otherwise used for non-immigration purposes, the projects for migration settlement over-expanded and particularly with the expenditure of the construction outstripped or over-compensated for the work undertaken. Besides, the investment plan was not carried out earnestly with the projects adjusted without authorization and severe overspending in administration expenses or funds diverted for the tax of the occupied arable land. And corruption, peculation, misappropriation of resettlement funds often occurred.
The Chinese government has paid a great attention to it. Immediately after the ending of the meeting of audit and readjustment, active measures were taken by Hubei Province, Chongqing Municipality and other counties in the reservoir area for supervising and checking over the matter with some obvious effects attained.
(People's Daily 10/26/2000)
