About 10 housing developments under construction are being made with substandard building materials, Guangdong Provincial Quality and Technology Supervision Bureau has revealed.

Among them are the Zhujiang Junyuan Garden, Baiyun Shangcheng Garden, and Dongpu Chuangxin Gaoke Building.

Officials said they found iron and steel materials being used in the Zhujiang Junyuan Garden project did not meet required standards in terms of mechanics and weight, while Baiyun Shangcheng Garden and Dongpu Chuangxin Gaoke Building are said to have used inferior cement for external decoration.

A representative of Guangdong Hanjiang Building Installation Co Ltd, which is responsible for the construction of Zhujiang Junyuan Garden, said that his company had now launched an investigation into the supply of the iron and steel materials and would take action accordingly.

The worker, who asked not to be identified, refused to give further details.

Lin Sheng, a public relations executive with Guangzhou Corporate Worth Real Estate Co Ltd, told China Daily that the property developers highlighted by the bureau might be innocent.

He added: "For most of the time, the building materials suppliers are able to produce documents to prove that their qualities are up to the official standard when they approach property developers.

"Of course, brand names, though more expensive, will make property developers less worried of the quality problem."

As his company has been developing premium property projects, he said the handful of property projects his company has developed have used primarily national or even global brand-name building materials.

"I don't think any property developer in Guangzhou dares to use substandard building materials intentionally," he said. "Any quality problem of a project will defame the developer and lead to huge problems in the competitive real estate market in Guangzhou."

Liu Liye, who works for a local newspaper and is looking for an opportunity to buy a new house, said the news that Zhujiang Junyuan Garden used substandard building materials had put him off buying a property there.

"I had visited the project recently and found it really ideal for me, I would have given the project developer a deposit for one of the big apartments if I had not known of the fact," Liu said.

"No matter what, the developer should care about the quality more than anything else," he added.

According to the latest findings of the provincial quality and technology supervision bureau, the building materials used by the province's real estate developers were generally good in 2005.

Of the materials tested on new developments in 2005, 91.5 per cent met the official standard, an improvement of 7.1 per cent on the previous year,

Wires and cables, as well as switches and sockets, tested in 2005 were all up to official standards; iron and steel materials, 89.7 per cent; cement, 93.5 per cent; coating materials, 76.2 per cent; porcelain products, 91.7 per cent; and floorboards, 83.3 per cent.

Editor: Yan