Environment highlighted in Shaanxi session

The system for appraising the job performance of government officials should be improved by shifting the focus from GDP growth to environmental protection, a deputy to the second session of 12th People's Congress of Shaanxi province said.

"Protecting the mountains and water from pollution is also a political achievement," said Meng Jianguo, deputy director of the financial and economic committee of Shaanxi Provincial People's Congress.

He said that government functions should be further transformed and the official appraisal system should be changed to embrace more than GDP growth and investment.

"The ultimate goal of development is people's happiness, but in the process of development we forgot that," Meng said.

Meng said he once asked for advice in a street, and a resident told him that his dream was to breathe clean air, drink clean water and eat safe food.

"If we cannot provide conditions for the resident to realize his dream, a faster pace of development makes no sense," Meng said.

In the governmental report to the session made by Lou Qinjian, governor of Shaanxi province, controlling pollution and protecting blue sky is one of the key jobs for the province in 2014.

Meng said that it was not scientific to use GDP growth to assess local governmental officials, and the development plan for the cities and counties should be made with different local conditions.