China to Open up Architecture Designing SectorChina will completely open up part of its architecture designing sector to foreign investors three years later after China's access to the WTO, and foreign investors can establish solely-funded designing offices after another two years.Lin Xuancai, designing department director of the Ministry of Construction told in an interview that China has already opened up some of its architecture engineering designing offices. Cooperative and joint ventures are included and there will be no limits to stock rights and the number of such offices, he said. Up to now, more than 120 joint ventures and cooperative architectural engineering design offices have been approved by China and since last year China has opened up three single-item fields to foreign investment, namely, decoration, intellectual architectural design and environmental protection design. China has already had a number of projects designed by foreign architects given no signing authority enjoyed by their Chinese counterparts following international practice. This is because the latter party will have to be held in responsibility for projects undertaken, said an official with the Ministry of Construction. By PD Online Staff Li Yan |
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