12 big characters cost 310000! Half month talk: curbing the waste of grassroots party building facilities

Party building facilities are important carriers and places for educating Party members and the masses on Party spirit and serving Party members and the masses. It is necessary to replace, upgrade, and transform party building facilities in some places according to actual needs. At the same time, a survey conducted by a journalist from Half Month Talk found that some grassroots areas have deviated from the focus of party building work and exhibited negative tendencies such as extravagance and waste during the construction of party building facilities; Some grassroots areas like to use the name of "party building" to build some infrastructure facilities, which is expensive and affects the seriousness of party building work.

A 10 zhang long banner costs approximately 440000 yuan in total

Since last year, reporters from Half Moon Talk have visited government agencies, enterprises, villages, and communities in dozens of cities and counties in multiple provinces and regions, and found signs of extravagance in the construction of party building signs. In some places, party building signs are large in size, some tens of meters long and some tens of meters high.

At the highway exit next to a village in the central region, a reporter from Half Moon Talk saw a huge party building sign that was over 10 zhang long and over 3 zhang high. Inquiring a local grassroots cadre, it was learned that this party building sign was completed in the second half of 2021, with a total cost of over 440000 yuan. The person in charge of the company that undertook this project said that there are still several projects worth over a million this year, some of which are in negotiations and some are working on drawing designs.

At a leisure and cultural square in a certain area in the north, a half month talk reporter saw 12 red characters: "If you have difficulties, find a party member, if you need services, find a branch.". The boss surnamed Huang, who undertook the project, said, "Each character is 6 meters long and 6 meters high, and the total production and installation cost is 311800 yuan."

According to research conducted by Half Month Talk reporters, some places use party building signs as landscapes, prominently placed at intersections, street intersections, courtyard entrances, doorways, as well as window and facade areas such as squares and parks. In some places, landscape engineering is packaged as party building projects for implementation.

A so-called "party building landscape" in a certain residential area

On January 9th of this year, the procurement website of a certain city government in the eastern region announced the winning bid for four community party building and cultural atmosphere building projects in a town, with a transaction amount of over 4.87 million yuan. In addition to party building elements, the construction content also includes "De" character relief walls, "De" character sketches, community themed three-dimensional signage, leisure seats, and finished chess and card tables.

According to a review of bidding materials for over 200 party building signs and cultural wall projects in 122 places in recent years, the Half Month Talk reporter found that 35 of them were successfully tendered in 2022, with prices significantly increasing compared to before 2021. The materials used have also been upgraded from cement, acrylic, etc. to aluminum alloy, stainless steel, marble.

Under the name of "Party building", infrastructure facilities in Malaysia

In some areas, new ideas and creativity continue to emerge, and under the name of "Party building", they label themselves as "Party building" and install some infrastructure facilities, such as Party building stations, Party building squares, Party building parks, Party building training points, Party building research bases, Party mass service centers, Party building empowerment positions, Party building complexes, etc. These facilities generally occupy a large area and require high investment. Among them, party building squares and party building parks are the most common and their numbers are growing rapidly.

The Half Month Talk reporter randomly sorted out 103 "Party Building Parks" projects from the bidding results announced on the China Government Procurement Network and public information on various government websites. Among them, 18 were implemented from 2017 to 2019, 16 were implemented in 2020, and 69 were implemented from 2021 to the end of April this year. Since 2018, at least 30 villages in 4 townships and streets of a county-level city in the north have built party building squares.

A party building theme park will be built in a demonstration area of urban-rural integration in a central city, covering an area of approximately 19000 square meters with an estimated investment of 15 million yuan. A party building park in a certain area in the southwest, with an investment of over 70 million yuan. Although these "party building parks" are named after "party building", many of their contents are unrelated to party building.

In some areas, party building parks are built in township and village locations, in the name of party building work, to carry out landscape construction. The party building amusement park landscape renovation project in a central town was completed in December 2022 through bidding, with an investment of 924800 yuan. In June 2022, a county in western China announced the bidding results for a village party building landscape improvement and renovation project, which cost 986000 yuan.

Since 2020, many areas in a central province have started building "party building complexes" at the village level and urban communities, with significant investment. The Half Month Talk reporter searched for relevant information on 10 party building complex construction projects in the area, including 2 implemented in 2020, 2 implemented in 2021, and 5 implemented in 2022. Some large-scale projects have a total investment of 6 million to 8 million yuan, with the highest investment exceeding 13 million yuan.

Standardize the construction of party building facilities and prevent comparison and imitation

The interviewed grassroots party organization staff told the Half Month Talk reporter that in recent years, there has been an increase in the renovation and upgrading of party building facilities, as well as new construction projects, which are related to mutual comparison and imitation in various regions. "If someone else builds it, they will build it themselves; if someone else builds a 5-meter building, they will build a 10 meter building themselves; if someone else uses cement and stone, they will use high-tech new materials themselves. Lighting and decoration are standard, and circuit renovation is also necessary to apply for more funds from superiors."

According to interviews with reporters from Half Month Talk, the use of party building facilities has a certain period of time. Some party building facilities are initially idle for a long time, and then forced to be repaired and rebuilt beyond the maintenance period. In recent years, some grassroots areas have started to shift gears and upgrade existing construction projects, and investment has also shown an increasing trend.

In July 2022, the procurement website of a provincial government in the eastern region announced a contract for an integrated construction project of upgrading facilities for party building positions, with an investment of over 2.89 million yuan; In November 2022, the Public Resource Trading Center of a certain city in central China issued a bid announcement for the upgrade and renovation project of urban grassroots party building halls, with an investment of 3.895 million yuan; In January 2023, a street in East China implemented a comprehensive reconstruction and expansion project for street party building positions, with a contract amount of 3.79 million yuan

Experts and officials interviewed suggest conducting inspections on existing party building signs, sculptures, exhibition halls, activity rooms, and other party building facilities. The necessary corrections and demolitions should be carried out in accordance with the standards and regulations. Strengthen project approval and process supervision for large-scale infrastructure projects such as squares, parks, and venues that are designated as "Party building". It is strictly prohibited to illegally use, apply, or borrow the name of "Party building". Strengthen research and argumentation on various "smart party building" projects, prevent duplicate construction and neglect, and crack down on engineering corruption and interest transmission.

The focus of grassroots party building work should be to extensively connect with the masses, strive to solve difficult problems for the masses, and do practical things. We should timely guide and standardize the work mode of grassroots party building, encourage grassroots party organizations to focus their main energy on building strong teams, serving the people, and other aspects.