Public infrastructure serves as a foundation for meeting social needs and ensuring people's livelihoods, and plays a significant role in promoting sustainable economic and social development. In recent years, China has continuously intensified the construction of public infrastructure on the principle of "high standards, sustainability, and benefits to the people." Substantial investments have been made in key areas such as transportation, municipal facilities, public housing, and social welfare infrastructure, which effectively improve the public service system to meet the people's growing aspirations for a better life.
I. Strategies and Practices of the Chinese Government in Promoting Public Infrastructure Construction
Following a people-centred development philosophy, the Chinese government constantly improves the basic public service system and strengthens the building of inclusive, fundamental, and safe public infrastructure to address the most pressing and immediate needs of the public.
1. Increasing investment in transportation and municipal facilities to accelerate the construction of basic service systems
In 2024, China completed fixed asset investments in railways totalling 850.6 billion yuan, with the total railway operating mileage reaching 162,000 kilometres, including 48,000 kilometres of high-speed railways. The total road mileage reached 5.441 million kilometres, including 184,000 kilometres of expressways. The number of civil airports reached 259, with 38 handling over 10 million passengers annually. Continuous improvements in municipal infrastructure have brought a 99.9% reliability rate for urban and rural power grids. Thanks to updates and renovations of ageing pipelines, urban water supply coverage, piped gas coverage, and sewage treatment rate in China now reach 99.43%, 98.25%, and 98.69%, respectively, providing strong support for urban development and residents' quality of life.
Enhancing public housing capacity to improve the housing conditions of residents
China is gradually establishing a housing security system that includes public rental housing, affordable rental housing, and subsidised housing for sale, with a cumulative construction of over 64 million units of various types of affordable housing and resettlement housing. The system has helped more than 150 million people in need realise their housing dreams, with low-income families essentially covered, and the housing conditions of lower-middle-income families effectively improved. Comprehensive renovations of old urban residential areas have been carried out, with 258,000 old urban residential areas newly renovated, benefiting over 44 million households and more than 100 million residents. Continuous optimisation of real estate market policies has guided local governments to implement city-specific, precise policies to stabilise the market.
Focusing on security for low-income groups and improving basic facilities for social services
In China's 13th and 14th Five-Year Plans for National Economic and Social Development, the government has allocated significant funds for the construction of public infrastructure in social services such as elderly care, disability services, and social welfare (including child welfare, juvenile protection, mental health, and basic funeral services). China has built 404,000 elderly care service institutions, 12,000 disability rehabilitation institutions, and over 1,500 juvenile assistance and protection institutions, further enhancing social security capacities and improving social service levels. Additionally, policies have been introduced to encourage the private sector to expand the supply of standardised infrastructure in elderly care, childcare, education, and healthcare.
II. Auditors’ Contributions to Public Infrastructure Development
Public sector auditing plays a crucial role in promoting public infrastructure construction and strengthening public sector accountability. Audit institutions in China actively respond to national strategies, closely monitor key areas, track critical industries, and intensify oversight over major policies, key funds, and major projects. Auditors identified prominent issues, made targeted and actionable audit recommendations to optimise the allocation of public funds and resources, and to accelerate the translation of public investments into maximised tangible outputs.
1. Focusing on the planning and implementation of public service facilities to ensure equity and accessibility
To ensure the sustainability of public finances, governments could only allocate limited resources to areas most needed by the public in the construction of public service systems. In an audit of social service facilities organized by the National Audit Office of China, auditors focused on the planning and implementation of public service facilities, and examined regional, urban-rural, and group disparities, the match between supply and demand, and the implementation of major tasks from macro, meso, and micro levels. By comparing medium- and long-term project plans, annual project lists, and local demand surveys, auditors identified issues such as a lack of coordinated planning that led to unreasonable layouts, redundant construction that exceeded actual needs, and non-compliant project standards. Relevant departments attached great importance to the issues raised by auditors, and promptly rectified them by enhancing the equity and accessibility of public services and ensuring that the benefits of development are more fairly and widely shared among the people.
2. Focusing on the management and use of key funds to improve efficiency in the use of funds
Auditors have been closely monitoring key stages of public fund management, including fundraising, management, and use, to evaluate the scale and structure of investments, clarify the scope of fund use, management responsibilities, allocation methods, application conditions, and approval procedures, and to identify weaknesses in internal controls. For example, in an audit of affordable housing organised by the National Audit Office of China, auditors identified irregularities in fund management and usage, such as long-time idle funds, misappropriation of special funds, and low occupancy of completed affordable houses. Audit institutions communicated with relevant departments to ensure that they take measures, such as setting implementation deadlines, adjusting expenditure scales, and integrating projects, to rectify these irregularities.
3. Focusing on the progress of key projects to improve construction efficiency
Auditors have been focusing on key infrastructure projects such as elderly care and childcare facility renovations, covering the whole process starting from project initiation, feasibility studies, to implementation and completion. Auditors identified issues such as delays due to inadequate preliminary preparations, slow land acquisition procedures, and inflated project costs due to management loopholes. After being audited, relevant authorities resolved bottlenecks and difficulties in project construction, improved management, and ensured timely and quality project completion. Additionally, based on the audit findings, audit institutions conducted in-depth analysis of the causes of problems and made specific recommendations to further optimize the approval processes, policies, and services for public infrastructure projects, and to establish long-term mechanisms to improve the efficiency of key project approvals.
III. Experiences and Future Prospects of Public Infrastructure Auditing
In the information age, the integration of data technology in auditing has become a major trend. To meet the demands of the times, audit institutions in China constantly improve the application of big data technology to auditing, so as to increase the impact of audit findings, follow up on rectifications, and enhance audit quality and efficiency.
1. Leveraging big data technology to empower auditing
Big data technology can break through the time and space limits of traditional auditing, enhancing auditors’ ability in identifying issues, making judgments, and conducting macro-level analysis. Audit institutions continuously establish and improve their data collection systems, data planning management systems, and data storage and sharing systems, so as to integrate audit resources. By using technologies such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing (RS), satellite navigation systems, and artificial intelligence (AI), auditors can quickly retrieve specific information from massive data sets, accurately identify deep-seated issues, and promptly identify major problems such as unreasonable facility layouts and slow project progress, which significantly improves the efficiency of audit work.
2. Giving full play to the think-tank role of external experts
To address frontline auditors’ needs, audit institutions in China have been hiring experts from professional institutions, research institutes, industry regulators, and universities in fields such as water conservancy, power, roads, and civil engineering. During the survey phase of auditing, external experts could provide training for auditors; during the implementation phase, external experts could offer technical consultations and professional guidance; during the conclusion phase, external experts’ comments are sought on audit recommendations, so as to enhance the quality of audit work.
Applying a full-chain penetration methodology
Tracking the entire chain of public infrastructure planning, construction, completion acceptance, and usage, audit institutions in China have been conducting full-process audits of project fund raising, management, and usage, and penetrating the business processes of central, provincial, municipal, and county-level authorities down to project companies, realizing comprehensive oversight over all parties involved. During auditing, audit institutions strengthen coordination with relevant departments for policy consultation and information sharing. Key elements such as the consequences, causes, historical background, and responsible entities of issues are identified to improve the breadth and depth of audit findings and enhance audit effectiveness.
Looking ahead, audit institutions in China will continue to draw on advanced experiences and technological achievements from SAIs in other countries and regions, and to strengthen the efforts in auditing the planning and construction of public infrastructure and fund management of public investments. We are confident that through our joint efforts, by carrying out public infrastructure audits, audit institutions worldwide will make new and greater contributions to improving all countries’ systems and capacity for governance for continued sustainable economic and social development around the world.