The land ministry is planning to open a new front in the fight against bid-rigging on public works projects.
By the end of June it will introduce a clause in all of its public works contracts stipulating fines for construction companies found to have won contracts illicitly, Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Chikage Ogi said Tuesday.
The measure is part of an 18-point policy package mapped out the same day.
The fine will be 10 percent of the value of any project found to have been won with a rigged bid, Ogi told a news conference.
"The very aim of establishing the special clause is to prevent the act of bid-rigging," she said.
Major cities and other local governments have already implemented similar statutes.
Ogi said her ministry will work with other government offices to apply the plan to projects under the jurisdiction of other ministries, agencies and government-affiliated corporations.
To maintain the quality of public works projects and exclude undesirable companies, the policy package attaches greater importance to technology and the past performance of bidders than to the price of their services.
The package also urges local governments to make greater use of a third-party organ to promote fair bidding and high-quality public works.