Local governments in China are investing heavily in trophy construction projects while neglecting a basic need for environmental infrastructure such as waste water treatment systems, a senior Chinese official said yesterday.

Qiu Baoxing, vice-minister of construction, reported that 230 of the 600 or so Chinese cities surveyed by the government did not have adequate waste water treatment networks. "This means polluted water in these cities is discharged directly [into waterways] causing tremendous harm to the environment," he said.