An audit into school construction and repair has found almost half of the projects lag behind the original plan, China's top auditor said on Wednesday.

The investigation into work in 54 counties found that 54 percent of repair projects and 48 percent of building projects failed to meet the completion deadline at the end of 2011, Liu Jiayi, top auditor of the National Auditing Office said in a 2011 auditing report for a meeting of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee.

The report also found substandard bidding in major projects involving 38.9 billion yuan ($6.1 billion). The report said the Ministry of Railways carried out substandard bidding in its construction project for the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway.

The ministry shortened the time period allowed for bidders to obtain application documents to 13 hours from the standard five working days. It also slashed the time period for application submissions to less than 24 hours from the seven days required by law, according to the report.

Liu said problems revealed in the investigation have been addressed.