Put a stop to 'image projects'

Officials' obsession with "image projects" needs to be put down, says an article in Guangzhou Daily. An excerpt follows:

On Monday, a Three Gorges sightseeing tower worth 35 million yuan in Wanzhou, Chongqing, exploded into debris. With the collapse of the long-claimed local image project the huge amount of taxpayers' money also evaporated.

It is not unusual that many image projects throughout the country have been under criticism because of bad designs or their failure to yield expected economic returns. However, that does not seem to be enough to stop such projects being erected one after another because they are thought to be the overpowering local symbol or a show of local officials' achievements. A typical case is the launching of an expensive monument in Huai'an, Jiangsu province, last August to mark the country's south-north geographic demarcation in defiance of public opinion.