Creation of a unified market with open and fair competition environment is an important guarantee for the sustained and healthy development of the economy, as well as an important aspect to strengthen government’s management and service functions. On November 20th, the Construction Market Supervision Department of Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural Development organized a supervision seminar which regulates construction enterprises’ contract business across provinces. In the spirit of the third plenary session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the CPC, and for the full implementation of the requirements of Circular of the Ministry of Housing and Urban- rural Development Concerning Supervision of Construction Enterprises’ Trans-Provincial Contract Business, the seminar helps enterprises in exchanging relevant experience and discussing the elimination of regional barriers. In accordance with the notification requirements, construction enterprises across the province has cleared up related documents concerning contract business regulation, and rectified local protectionism and market barriers.

To standardize the contract business supervision in construction enterprises across the province, in March this year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural Development has issued the Circular of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural Development Concerning Construction Enterprises’ Trans-Provincial Contract Business Supervision, and further deployed a special inspection in September, asking for a comprehensive inspection of laws, regulations, regulatory documents, set by government at all levels, urban and rural housing construction departments, and their implementation, concerning supervision of construction enterprises’ trans-provincial contract business.

Targeting the problems existing in construction enterprises’ trans-provincial contract business supervision, market monopoly and local protectionism, in particular, the official from the Construction Market Supervision Department of Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural Development promoted a thorough understanding of the importance of regulating construction enterprises’ trans-provincial contract business supervision, and asked for the innovation of mechanism, so as to constantly regulate supervision of construction enterprises’ trans-provincial contract business.

First of all, innovative regulatory approaches should be promoted to further improve the supervision system of construction enterprises’ trans-provincial contract business. Specifically speaking, first, urban and rural housing construction departments must further change their concepts, focusing more on welcoming enterprises to be set up in the region than owning the enterprises. They should treat all businesses equally fair with strict regulation, and strive to create a fair competition environment for construction industry development. Second, they should make full use of electronic and information technology to innovate means for market supervision, shifting their focus from “more on approval, less on supervision” to “playing down the pre-matter management, attaching more importance to the during and post matter supervision”. Third, they should loosen admission requirements with strict supervision. More specifically, they should improve supervision through a comprehensive adaptation of market means to strengthen the supervision of market and construction sites; they should further the promotion of construction of market mechanism, including construction market credit system and construction guarantee insurance, and create a market environment that encourages good credit and punish bad credit to strengthen the credit awareness of enterprises, so as to foster legal business and free flow of enterprises and promote a healthy development of construction industry.

Secondly, they need to strengthen supervision and further the special inspection for regulating supervision of construction enterprises’ trans-provincial contract business. To begin with, they need to clear up related documents to eliminate market monopoly and regional protectionism from the regulatory level; second, they need to strengthen market supervision, including simplifying filing procedures of construction enterprises’ trans-provincial contract business. Informational record should be promptly handled with clear requirements for standardized behavior. Meanwhile, they should strengthen the supervision of incoming ecdemic enterprises, crack down on illegal acts, such as surround-bidding and forging bid, subcontract and affiliation, illegal subcontracting, defaulting construction money, so as to maintain the order of construction market. Third, they should strengthen supervision and inspection, and carry out special inspection concerning regulating supervision of construction enterprises’ trans-provincial contract business. Regarding problems as regional protectionism, they should draw up action plans to rectify them and guarantee the thorough rectification. Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural Development will carry out supervision on the basis of self-inspection of different regions.

it is stressed at the end of the conference that, we should have more open mind, more long-term consideration and more action-oriented initiatives, to promote the construction market for a higher level of unified open-up. In addition, Symposium on Promoting the Construction of Credit System of Construction Market and Forum on Housing Construction and Public Works Bidding Supervision Work, which were held on November 13th and 14th, also raised requirements for opposing local protectionism and overcoming market barriers.

(Excerpted from China Construction News)