China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has ordered two local governments in the country’s northwest to “rectify” vanity projects costing millions of dollars.

Yuzhong County in Gansu province failed to prioritize funds for “improving people’s livelihoods,” while the city of Hancheng in Shaanxi province spent too excessively on local projects, the ministry said in a notice dated Thursday. Yuzhong had paid 62 million yuan ($9.1 million) to build statues and gates, while Hancheng had spent 190 million yuan on rock gardens and waterfalls.

In recent years, multiple scandals have emerged in China over poverty reduction schemes. In August, villagers in Gansu found cracks in new homes built under the central government’s poverty alleviation plan. And in April, six officials from that province were suspended for alleged corruption in a billion-yuan road project aimed at poverty reduction. (Image: Official WeChat account of the Yuzhong government)