The Ministry of Construction, the State Development and Reform Commission and other related departments have recently worked out a timetable to solve the problem of migrant worker's overdue payment.

According to the timetable, payment defaulted in the year 2003 will be recovered before the end of June, 2004, overdue payment before 2003 will be paid before the end of June 2005, and the problem of delaying wages for construction workers will be entirely solved before the end of October 2006.

Supervision will be strengthened over ongoing projects kicked off before 2004 to prevent new overdue payment; and project approval will be tightened over those started after 2004 to put an end to defaulted payment.

To that end, the state will complete a new round of research before the end of May this year to get a clear number of defaulted project funds and worker's wages. Before the end of June, related departments and local governments are demanded to work out their plans and measures to clear overdue payment. A joint supervision team will be set up by related departments of the State Council to check local authorities' work every six months.

Statistics show that China now has 38 million people engaged in the construction sector, with a worker supply far outnumbering demand. Many project contractors impose unequal terms on workers when signing employment agreements, and defaulted payment is rampant due to lack of an effective social mechanism to curb the problem.

To clear overdue payment from the root, construction officials pointed out, China must depend on improving laws and regulations, tapping new ways of project investment, construction and management and building risk control and credit guarantee systems. By the 26th of last February, 78 percent overdue payment nationwide has been paid, including 96 percent occurred in 2003.

By People's Daily Online