Local authorities are redoubling their efforts to implement the central government's ban on the construction of new office buildings.

The government of Northwest China's Shaanxi province canceled 37 new office-building projects last year, and local officials were forced to move out of 1,666 offices they had been occupying illegally.

In North China's Shanxi province, 235 new building projects have been halted pending review, and 55 other projects have been canceled.

A review by the government of Hebei province in North China found that the offices of 3,291 local officials at and above county level exceeded the standard size - ranging from 6 square meters to 54 sq m depending on the official's rank - by an average of 7.2 sq m.

Twelve senior provincial-level officials and 126 departmental-level officials in Northeast China's Jilin province have been moved out of offices that exceed the standard size.

Xu Shousheng, Party secretary and director of the National People's Congress in Central China's Hunan province, has relinquished his office at the provincial congress building in an effort to play a lead role in implementing the building ban.

(China Daily 11/25/2014 page6)