Some 141 billion yuan (about 17.4 billion US dollars) of overdue payments in China's construction sector before the year 2003 were liquidated as of Sept. 5, 2005, accounting for 75.82 percent of the total construction payment in arrears, a local newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The Beijing-based Economic Information Daily quoted the Ministry of Construction as saying that about 72.62 percent of the total overdue payments concerning government-funded projects before 2003 have been liquidated, which are worth 51.2 billion yuan.

The liquidation rates in Shanghai, Beijing and Yunnan are quite high, exceeding 80 percent, while the liquidation rates in Tibet Autonomous Region and Hainan Province are below 60 percent, according to sources with the Ministry of Construction.

The huge sum of delayed payments in the construction sector accounts for a major part of the total overdue payments to migrant workers. Statistics show that there are over 30 million migrant workers working in construction, about one-third of the country's total rural workers in cities.

At end of 2003, China launched a nationwide action to help migrant workers get their overdue wages.

Source: Xinhua