tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post4846089456623737233..comments2024-03-27T15:36:44.737-07:00Comments on Haq's Musings: Rampant Corruption in Construction IndustryRiaz Haqhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-66132059748316001262011-03-27T13:51:14.804-07:002011-03-27T13:51:14.804-07:00Here's recent Businessweek report on corruptio...Here's recent <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_14/b4222012984187.htm" rel="nofollow">Businessweek</a> report on corruption in Japanese construction industry:<br /><br /><i> The beneficiaries of all that (post WWII) spending were the so-called zenekon, large construction companies such as Kajima, Shimizu, Obayashi, and Taisei. The strength of the zenekon ensures that Japan is ready to rebuild quickly in the wake of its latest—and still unfolding—catastrophe, just as it did after the 1995 Kobe earthquake. But the sector, while a point of pride catered to by the nation's elected leaders and bureaucrats, isn't always a force for good. Proof lies all over Japan—in mammoth tunnels and bridges to nowhere, dams built against the advice of engineers, and seawalls raised over the objections of those they were purported to protect.<br /><br />The ruling Democratic Party of Japan came to power in 2009 promising an end to wasteful public works projects and the cozy relationships between zenekon and politicians. The rebuilding of northeastern Japan following the Mar. 11 earthquake and the resulting tsunami and nuclear crisis will test that commitment. "They're going to have to contract out these projects in quick order, and that means companies with really tight ties to the contracting agency get the project," says Brian Woodall, a political scientist at Georgia Tech and author of Japan Under Construction. "It may be an opportunity for interested and powerful politicians to get involved, and that to me is not a good thing."<br />-----<br />The zenekon have traditionally been Japan's political kingmakers. From the 1970s until the 1990s, the companies donated generously to Liberal Democratic Party candidates, supporting the party's half-century reign. In a 1992 case that exposed the role the yakuza crime syndicates played in Japan's trucking and construction industries, testimony revealed that the nation's biggest firms had each donated some 20 million yen a year to a single LDP politician. In his book, Woodall describes a construction minister from the 1960s, Kono Ichiro, who would only meet with executives at his home after they paid a kutsunugidai ("shoe removal fee"), a zabutondai ("floor cushion fee"), and a nantokadai ("something-or-other fee"). In return, Japanese administrators and legislators steered public-works contracts to favored companies. And legislators did their best to grow the pot of money set aside for public works projects, especially in their home districts.<br /><br />The result of all that cronyism and graft: projects like the Joetsu Shinkansen railway, a high-speed line built in the 1970s at the behest of former prime minister Kakuei Tanaka through one of the least populated areas in the country; the Isahaya Bay Project, a controversial series of dikes built by Kajima, Obayashi, and others, to turn a bay into farmland; and the Tokyo Aqua-Line, a nine-mile bridge-tunnel spanning Tokyo Bay, built at a cost of $12 billion by Kajima, and today only lightly used.<br /><br />Prosecutors have periodically taken on the big firms, most recently in 2007, when the government won convictions against nearly all the zenekon—Obayashi CEO Takeo Obayashi, a descendant of the company's founder, resigned over the investigation, and the nation's farm minister, Toshikatsu Matsuoka, hanged himself. The Democratic Party of Japan's 2009 decision to freeze construction on an immense dam in Naganohara was seen as an attempt to follow through on its reformist campaign rhetoric.<br /></i>Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-63327864581227050162009-11-29T13:03:28.800-08:002009-11-29T13:03:28.800-08:00Here's a BBC report about "ghost worker&q...Here's a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8380010.stm" rel="nofollow">BBC report</a> about "ghost worker" costing $43m a year in Delhi city government:<br /><br /><i>The government of the Indian capital, Delhi, has been paying salaries to 22,853 civic workers who do not exist.<br /><br />Salaries for the missing Municipal Corporation of Delhi workers add up to nearly $43m a year, City Mayor Kanwar Sain said in a statement.<br /><br />The "gap" was discovered after the authorities introduced a biometric system of recording attendance.<br /><br />Correspondents say it shows some civic officials created a list of "ghost workers" to siphon off state funds.<br /><br />The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) employs more than 100,000 cleaners, gardeners, teachers and other workers.<br /><br />'Gap'<br /><br />City officials became aware there were thousands of "ghost workers" after introducing the biometric system in August last year.<br /><br />Mr Sain said the civic agency has 104,241 "genuine" employees - while the records show the numbers at 127,094.<br /><br />A press release issued by Mayor Sain's office said: "There is a gap of 22,853 employees in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi between the data given by drawing and disbursing officers, the head of the department and the number of employees enrolled for biometric attendance."<br /><br />An "in-depth vigilance inquiry will be conducted into the matter to ascertain the facts," he said.<br /><br />"Strict disciplinary action will be taken against officials who cooked the books," the mayor said.<br /><br />It was long suspected that the city was being defrauded by "ghost workers", but the authorities had always denied the charge.</i>Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-88353108569331358642009-02-26T03:54:00.000-08:002009-02-26T03:54:00.000-08:00If the Sher Shah bridge collapsed due to an error ...If the Sher Shah bridge collapsed due to an error on the part of a "Greek Consultant", why wasn't this consultant held liable for the death of 14 innocent Pakistanis? Why was this whole issue swept under the carpet?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-43728737223407134602009-02-12T07:44:00.000-08:002009-02-12T07:44:00.000-08:00The Sher Shah Bridge did not collapse on account o...The Sher Shah Bridge did not collapse on account of corruption, but due poor engineering design from a Greek consultant. Pakistani engineers' lack of courage to question a European's judgment played too. <BR/><BR/>As you already know, incompetence is another name for corruption.<BR/><BR/>Secondly, it is not wise to read too much in the $180 billion in annual expenditure on construction that your article alludes to. Just the "restripping" cost of a California highway "lane-mile" is between $2 to $5 million. At median cost, $180 billion is only enough for 52,000 lane-miles. American metropolitan areas have 613 lane-miles per 1000 inhabitants (1999 data), or for the Bay Area alone (7 million people), there are 4,291,000 lane-miles of roadways.<BR/><BR/>Does that define the term "piss in the ocean" or what?<BR/><BR/>Just like the last time, bestest regards again,<BR/><BR/>ShamsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com