China's government on Wednesday announced it would launch a transparent public tender system as part of a project to strengthen or replace unsafe school buildings.

The State Council executive meeting agreed the project to ensure school safety in areas prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods and landslides, would take three years.

School buildings vulnerable to natural disasters in other regions would also be reconstructed or modified accordingly.

All the construction works would be put to public tender and exposed to social and media supervision, State Councilors agreed at the meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.

The aim was to eradicate parents' concerns and build schools as places of safety.

Funding would be split between local and central governments so that schools wouldn't be burdened financially, according to the meeting.

The government started in 2007 a reconstruction project of secondary school buildings in the relatively undeveloped mid-western regions with 10 billion yuan (US$1.46 billion) of central funding. The government added 8 billion yuan this year to the project.

The State Council executive meeting also agreed the government would step up supervision of risk prevention controls in state-owned assets.

A supervision board assigned by the State Council would strengthen warnings against financial and management risks for state-owned enterprises to ensure asset safety amid the global financial crisis.

The Cabinet also urged the country's 141 state-owned enterprises directly under central governmental supervision to tackle the unfolding financial crisis through implementation of national support measures.

Beginning in January, the government issued a series of support plans for 10 key industries, such as the steel and automobile sectors, to stimulate the economy. Companies were encouraged to enhance their competitive edges through industrial upgrading and technology innovation.

(Xinhua News Agency April 2, 2009)