SOE's response to critical report further damages its public image

Workers at a steel factory in Dalian, Liaoning province. [Photo/China Daily]

A report posted online by Badong County Soil and Water Conservation Bureau criticized No. 11 Engineering Group of China Railway Construction Corporation for leaving the spoil at both ends of a high-speed railway tunnel it has constructed in Badong county in Central China's Hubei province. In response, the engineering group reportedly assigned employees to post anonymous comments attacking the report for being "inaccurate and biased". Southern Metropolis Daily commented on Saturday:

Since 2011, the Badong government has issued at least 10 notices requiring the State-owned constructer to properly remove the tunnel spoil as it is a risk to local residents and local enterprises. However, CRCC has refused to do so. They have only offered to build channels to release floodwater and compensate local residents for the inconvenience, saying the project is already finished.

While the harsh construction environment in the mountains may indeed make clearing the spoil difficult, in the final analysis it is the responsibility of CRCC to ensure it is properly and safely disposed of. However, the Badong government can do little to make CRCC clear the spoil.

The State-owned giant should not have tried to whitewash its misdeeds either. Even if it considered the report inaccurate, as it argued, the right response would have been to hold a news conference to clarify its role.

That the State-owned construction giant has posted its own online comments to attack the report and whitewash its actions hardly helps improve its public image.