They also charge them with demanding bribes, pocketing compensation payments and registering relatives as relocatees. They have been discovered inflating claims and taking kickbacks from construction companies, which have then built defective bridges, roads and buildings. The pattern of corruption in Yunyang county had been found all over the region where 1.2 million will be forcibly resettled. In December Premier Zhu Rongji toured the project and sacked more than 100 officials in a bid to stamp out corruption, which provoking unrest and fears construction work is so shoddy buildings might collapse.
Corruption is now the greatest problem.
In ten years the resettlement budget has already swollen from 17.5 billion yuan to 70 billion yuan and officials say it is expected to be over 100 billion yuan by 2003 when the first stage of the inundation takes place. Local officials have been discovered both inflating claims and taking kickbacks from construction companies who have then built defective bridges, roads and buildings. The Economic Daily reported that the National Audit Office found that officials have embezzled 232 million yuan from funds earmarked for resettlement. Angry peasants accuse local officials of stealing resettlements, demanding bribes, pocketing compensation payments and registering their relatives as relocatees. In Yunyang county, petitions on behalf of over 10,000 peasants have been sent to the central government warning of brewing social unrest.