Only minor irregularities had been found in the use of funds involving 76 reconstruction programs in regions hit by last year's major quake, China's National Audit Office (NAO) said Monday.

A total of 33.69 billion yuan (US$4.93 billion) was allocated for 76 reconstruction projects in 28 worst-hit counties of Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. By the end of May, 14 programs had been completed with an investment of 10.47 billion yuan.

Government departments responsible for allocating funds had abided by regulations and guidelines and taken effective measures to guarantee the quality of construction, the NAO said. Infrastructure programs including those for rural housing, schools, power and telecommunications had been carried out smoothly.

The audit office, however, did find irregularities in the use of relief funds, involving 26.06 million yuan. A total of 16 million yuan for rural house repairs had not been distributed quickly enough by the municipal government of Longnan city in Gansu. Some 10 million yuan was found to have been embezzled for administrative expenditure or for government buildings construction.

The central government injected 1 trillion yuan into the reconstruction work in the quake-hit zones following the magnitude-8 quake. The NAO launched auditing work on the relief fund in January this year.

(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2009)