The central government will open bidding for multibillion-yuan railway projects through third-party platforms to make the process more competitive and reduce corruption.
Xinhua and the People's Daily yesterday said former railways minister Liu Zhijun had been linked to corruption in tendering for high-speed railway construction projects.
Before his arrest and dismissal in February, 200 rail projects worth a total of 800 billion yuan (HK$979.3 billion) were launched every year, Xinhua said.
At an internal meeting in April, vice-minister Lu Chunfang said certain people had been interfering with tenders for railway construction and services contracts, it said.
'It's natural such heavy investments in rail projects with so little transparency are a breeding ground for corruption. The dismissal of one railways minister will not be enough to solve all the problems of China's rail projects,' said a Hong Kong professor, who declined to be named.
So far, project tenders are managed by the Railways Ministry.
'The Railways Ministry seems to do everything itself, including regulation, contracting and manufacturing. It's not international practice when everything is centred at one ministry,' the professor said.