Beijing's municipal government will issue migrant workers at construction sites free multi-functional identity cards this year to prevent wage problems and better facilitate management.

The card can be used for banking, as an identity document for insurance purposes, training courses, and as a work attendance record.

The Beijing municipal construction committee announced it would issue 600,000 such cards to migrant workers in the city's construction industry. Projects that have a construction area of more than 5,000 sq m or cost more than RMB5 million and a construction period of more than six months, must ensure that more than 95%of the migrant workers have the card.

Tao Liming, president of the Postal Savings Bank of China, said each card has a corresponding deposit book, into which contractors can deposit wages. He said that with the card, migrant workers will not have to carry a lot of cash with them when they return to their hometowns.

The card also provides information to the public security and labor departments so they can keep abreast of the city's floating population, said Sui Zhenjiang, director the Beijing committee, who will closely monitor the implementation of the card.

Action will be taken against companies that refuse to promote the card. Last year the city's construction companies defaulted on RMB1.628 billion in wages, so this card will hopefully allow workers better access to their salaries.

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