Auditors keep eye on quake funds

The National Audit Office has sent more than 1,000 state officials to the earthquake-hit Sichuan province, aiming to keep track of how post-quake reconstruction funds are being utilized, a newspaper reported yesterday.

Auditors will try to track a total of 1 trillion yuan ($146 billion), sanctioned for more than 200,000 construction projects in the quake-battered province, and aim to bring the lives of survivors in 51 counties back on track within two to three years, the Beijing-based China Youth Daily reported.

As of now, 27 audit teams are working at the reconstruction sites, Lu Huasheng, deputy director of the department of fixed assets investment audit in the National Audit Office (NAO), told the report.