Chinese communications authorities have decided to step up water transport safety control following a bridge collapse that left nine people reportedly dead in South China's Guangdong Province more than 10 days ago.

Weng Mengyong, deputy minister of Communications, said Tuesday at a press conference that the bridge collapse has aroused the government's grave concern over the safety of public transport facilities.

The Ministry of Communications has urged local departments to reinforce bridges on all major water ways, Meng said.

The vice minister said his ministry will kick off a six-month special campaign nationwide on Thursday, with the aim of preventing collisions between vessels and between vessels and bridges and other facilities along water ways.

The campaign will also target ships transporting crude oil and dangerous materials with the purpose of preventing leakage and environmental pollution caused by the leakage, he said.

"I speak here taking full responsibility for my own words that the bridges across the Yangtze River have quality assurances. The large bridges made in recent years in particular have taken into full account a variety of elements," he said.

Four vehicles carrying seven people and two road workers were thrown into the Xijiang River in Guangdong on June 15 when, in heavy fog, a cargo vessel traveling along the river ploughed into a section of the 1,600-meter-long Jiujiang bridge that spans the river, causing part of it to collapse.

Investigators have said the collapse had nothing to do with the quality of the construction of the bridge which opened to traffic in 1988.