Guideline backs 'smart construction industry'

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and 12 other departments have issued a guideline to promote development of a "smart construction industry".

The guideline, released on July 28, aims to upgrade the construction industry with digital and intelligent technologies and make it a more powerful driving force to increase domestic demand.

It set a goal for China to make the industry significantly more industrialized, digitalized and intelligent by 2025 and to become a competitive country in terms of intelligent construction by 2035.

Local authorities should speed up the upgrading of the industry by measures including promoting prefabricated buildings and applying more innovative technologies such as big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and blockchain in the construction process.

They should speed up innovation by measures including developing key technologies and working on application of construction robots featuring functions such as man-machine coordination and interaction and self learning, according to the guideline.

They should also nurture general contractors able to offer intelligent solutions and encourage companies to work closely and innovate together.

The construction industry should apply intelligent technologies to increase efficiency and reduce waste and the consumption of energy, water and other materials, the notice said, adding that it should also promote waste recycling.

Human resources agencies mobilized for job creation

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has issued a notice asking local human resources authorities to mobilize the human resources service sector to boost employment.

The notice said the authorities should encourage human resources service agencies to create better online recruitment platforms to meet the needs of various kinds of job seekers.

They should also support the agencies in holding everyday and offline recruitment activities while fully implementing disease prevention measures.

The notice called on the authorities to encourage agencies to focus on companies that are producing key medical supplies, operating public facilities or carrying out other important projects, and offer them services such as recruiting, talent seeking, labor dispatching and employee training.

The authorities should guide the agencies to offer services such as employee management, salary management and development planning to companies hit hard by COVID-19, especially micro-sized, small and medium-sized companies.

They should also support the agencies in promoting employment of college graduates and migrant workers, the notice said.

Xinhua contributed to this story.