A municipal heating network renovation project in a shantytown area was split into 16 bid sections and illegally subcontracted and illegally subcontracted to unqualified contractors, while neither the project's client nor the local regulatory authorities were aware of it. Recently, several construction workers called the media to report that the "Fengfeng Group Co., Ltd. Coal Mine Shantytown Renovation Project Centralized Heating Engineering Pipeline Network and Heat Exchange Station Installation Project" located in Fengfeng Mining District, Handan City, involved illegal subcontracting and illegal subcontracting, causing economic disputes between the migrant workers who actually carried out the construction and the project client.

Fengfeng Mining District in Handan City, Hebei Province, is an area rich in coal resources, and Fengfeng Group Co., Ltd. is located there. In April 2011, the "Fengfeng Group Co., Ltd. Coal Mine Shantytown Renovation Project Centralized Heating Engineering Pipeline Network and Heat Exchange Station Installation Project" was contracted by Fengfeng Group Electric Power Branch as the client to China Huaye Science and Industry Group Handan Branch (hereinafter referred to as Handan Huaye) and Handan No. 1 Construction and Installation Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Handan No. 1 Construction and Installation Company). Later, Handan No. 1 Construction and Installation Company divided the project into 16 bid sections and illegally subcontracted them to 16 unqualified migrant worker teams led by Shi, Yan, Zang, Ma, and others.

This shantytown heating network renovation project in Handan City should be said to typically reflect some of the chaos in today's construction market. After China Huaye Science and Industry Group Handan Branch won the bid for this project, it subcontracted it to Handan No. 1 Construction and Installation Co., Ltd., and after Handan No. 1 Construction and Installation Company took over, it divided it into 16 bid sections and subcontracted them to migrant worker teams. The multi-level subcontracting actually reached three tiers, so it is clear to everyone what the final contracting and subcontracting result would be. Even more incredible is that, apart from the first-tier contractor China Huaye Science and Industry Group Handan Branch, which is a senior construction company in the construction industry and has qualifications, the second-tier contractor Handan No. 1 Construction and Installation Company does not have qualifications for heating network installation. As for the third-tier migrant worker teams, they have no qualifications at all, and these teams do not even have business licenses.

However, during the more than two-year construction period of the Fengfeng Group shantytown heating network renovation project, various illegal and non-compliant acts such as multi-level illegal subcontracting and illegal subcontracting existed. The Fengfeng Mining District Construction Bureau, as the local competent department and regulatory authority for the project, actually claimed to be unaware. Is this not both laughable and absurd? Since it was unaware, why did the project remain all green lights until it was put into use, with no supervision? As an important government functional department, is the local construction department just a body that does nothing all day and lives off public funds? For a project to proceed to such an absurd, lawless, and unimaginable extent, is it because the contractor deliberately concealed it, or is there some unspeakable "secret" involved?

In fact, needless to say industry insiders, even ordinary people understand in their hearts that the real reason is not that the Construction Bureau is unaware, but that it is very well aware. It is just that the "hidden rules" behind the project make it turn a blind eye and pretend to be confused. Nowadays, to win a project, some have long been decided in advance, yet the procedures are still "seriously" gone through; in reckless illegal contracting, there are benefits at every level; among the qualifications of the contractors, even unqualified or even "three-no" teams are dared to be used, and there are many "tricks" involved; while government regulatory authorities turn a deaf ear. Either there is a problem with the leadership of the construction department, or superiors or leaders have already "had a hand in it," and so on. Therefore, what I want to say is that relevant departments must take heavy measures to rectify this corrupt phenomenon in the construction engineering field that harms both projects and conduct. If it is not severely punished, how can it be tolerated?

Editor in charge: Wu Yue