On February 5, 2016, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development released the "2015 Special Report on Concrete Quality Governance," which showed that in 2015 Beijing carried out an in-depth two-year special action on ready-mixed concrete quality governance, conducted multiple special inspections of concrete quality, and imposed a total of 51 administrative penalties for violations of laws and regulations concerning concrete quality, with fines of 3.969 million yuan. Thirty-five mixing plants that did not meet requirements were ordered to stop production, of which seven have been demolished.
     Combining "Affordable Housing Governance" and "Air Pollution Governance"
     To ensure concrete quality, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development focused on concrete quality governance for affordable housing projects and strengthened air pollution control, launching a series of combined measures.
For affordable housing projects, the commission established a concrete supplier directory system and adopted a series of measures such as controlled concrete prices and resident supervision at mixing plants to strictly control the quality of concrete works for affordable housing. The commission also combined market supervision and law enforcement in the concrete sector with actions to strengthen air pollution control, and actively promoted the governance and consolidation of mixing plants. It further strengthened quality management in ready-mixed concrete production and in the use of ready-mixed concrete in residential projects, comprehensively strengthened quality management in the procurement, production, and use of ready-mixed concrete, and urged enterprises to further improve their quality assurance systems. It added a "7-day witnessed testing item for concrete specimens" and established a corresponding concrete quality early-warning system to ensure timely handling of nonconforming situations and timely punishment of corresponding violations of laws and regulations.
      "One Penalty for Each Violation" in Cracking Down on Illegal and Noncompliant Mixing Plants
      The quality of ready-mixed concrete bears on the safety of engineering structures. The Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development conducted multiple special inspections and ensured that problems found in inspections were handled on a "find one, handle one" basis.
      In 2015, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development imposed a total of 51 administrative penalties for violations of laws and regulations concerning concrete quality, with fines of 3.969 million yuan. Among them, 19 cases involved failure to inspect commercial concrete, 9 involved the use of nonconforming building materials, 9 involved construction not in accordance with engineering design drawings, 7 involved the use of concrete from unqualified mixing plants, 4 involved construction not in accordance with construction technical standards, 2 involved on-site mixing of concrete, and 1 involved failure to inspect building materials in accordance with construction technical standards. Eighteen penalties were imposed on concrete production units, with fines of 1.3438 million yuan; 33 penalties were imposed on construction units, with fines of 2.6252 million yuan.
       At the same time, the commission intensified its investigation and handling of illegal and noncompliant market activities by concrete enterprises, investigated and handled in accordance with the law the illegal construction and expansion of concrete mixing plants, ordered the closure within a time limit of concrete mixing plants without administrative licenses, severely cracked down on the illegal transfer of qualification certificates and illegal subcontracting, and resolutely closed concrete mixing plants that did not meet requirements. Thirty-five noncompliant mixing plants were ordered to stop production, of which seven have been demolished.
      Strengthening Dynamic Supervision of Enterprise Qualifications
      According to the report, Beijing strengthened dynamic supervision of the qualifications of concrete enterprises, and mixing plant qualifications are no longer "settled once and for all." It was reported that Beijing published the list of 162 mixing plants that met the conditions for professional contracting qualifications for ready-mixed concrete in 2015, requiring all construction enterprises in the city to use concrete supplied by qualified mixing plants. For projects using ready-mixed concrete supplied by unqualified mixing plants, in addition to ordering an immediate stop to use, construction, supervision, and development enterprises were also strictly dealt with.
      A relevant official said that Beijing's two-year special action on ready-mixed concrete quality governance has entered a critical stage, and problems will be strictly investigated and handled and promptly exposed. Relevant competent departments and units must form joint forces to ensure the quality of concrete works and strictly prevent quality and safety accidents.