(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-10-21 15:55

According to the State Administration of Work Safety and a working teleconference held by the provincial government, the 4.2- million-yuan workshop, built in less than one year and came on stream in July 2007, was designed by an unqualified local agency with major designing defects and was approved against laws and regulations.

Reports said the accident stemmed from efforts to seek development in a blind way, which put the money first instead of putting the people first, a direct offense to the central government's order. False value of officials' performance and poor policy execution were also the factors behind.

More astonishing was that on the official website of the county government, an article went so far as to praise the workshop's parent company, which contributed to 50 percent of the county's fiscal revenue, for its persistence in expansion against state policies and authorities' objections.

According to Jiang Daming, the acting governor of Shandong, the parent company of the fatal facility, was an influential tax payer locally, which was protected by local governments and defied supervision by superior authorities.

The company was far from unique. Earlier this year, the State Environmental Protection Administration unveiled a blacklist of 82 projects that seriously violated environmental protection assessment rules. Involving combined investment of 1.12 trillion yuan, the big budget projects were protected by local governments as they were cash cows.

Environmental protection agencies and other departments had imposed penalties on some projects, but the penalties were not executed due to local protection.

"In the past, policy enforcement relied on political conviction and the authority and power of the central government. But now, in a free market economy, things have changed a lot. Local governments and enterprises put interests first," said Wang Xiaoguang, head of the economic operation and development section of the Research Institute of Economy under the National Development and Reform Commission.          

Behind the poor implementation of policies were thirst for growth and interests of local governments, the observers said.

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