Shady bidding exposed

Hundreds of airport bidding irregularities have come to light after a State-run audit revealed questionable contracts worth 1.93 billion yuan ($292.80 million) Monday.
The news casts a shadow over the current airport construction frenzy going on in the world's second largest economy.
A National Audit Office audit made public Monday exposed bidding violation involving 1.93 billion yuan ($292.80 million).
Among the 31 airports scattered across 10 provinces and regions including Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, and Heilongjiang, some 23 airports were involved in illegal bidding procedures, totaling 359 contracts, the National Audit Office said in the statement posted on its website Monday.
In the announcement, five airports in three provinces took in more than 61 million yuan ($9.25 million) by duplicating the application procedures. Those airports are located in Guilin in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Fuzhou and Quanzhou in Fujian Province, and Erlianhot and Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia.
Construction material providers in four airports - Daqing in Heilongjiang Province, Yulin in Shanxi Province, Urumqi in the XinjiangUyghur Autonomous Region and Chengdu in Sichuan Province - used fake invoices to evade taxes, which involved 33 million yuan ($5.00 million), the statement said.
A total investment of 62.12 billion yuan ($9.42 billion) was slated for the 31 audited airports, which accounts for 91 percent of the budget allocated for the construction or upgrading of some 53 airports.
These facilities were part of the government's 11th Five-Year Plan, from 2006 to 2010.
"It is not rare to see some infrastructure projects (in China) having this kind of violations," Cao Yin, a consultant with Frost and Sullivan, told the Global Times Monday.
He attributed the problems to the fact that local governments were granted power to develop infrastructure projects in advance, which created opportunities for illegal activities to arise during the airport construction period.
"It is uncomfortable to hear the news," Wang Jian, general secretary of the China Civil Airports Association, Monday told the Global Times, without elaborating.
Beijing has sped up airport construction as the nation seeks to keep up with growing public demand. Between 2006 and 2010, 33 new airports were built and another 33 underwent upgrades, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
An additional 11 airports are currently under construction.
Last month, the CAAC outlined a five-year draft plan to expand airport numbers to around 220 by 2015 45 more facilities than are in use today.
Monday's news is not the first for the nation's airports to be caught under the media spotlight.
Several airport officials ended the Year of the Tiger in hot water last year, after media reported several high-ranking officials were reportedly under investigation for disciplinary violations.