Shanghai records 50% jump in motions, suggestions by deputies

Deputies to the Shanghai People's Congress, the municipal legislative body, put forward altogether 69 motions and 1,246 suggestions in the past year, a 50 percent increase from the previous year.

Economic development was a prominent theme, with nearly 32 percent of the motions revolving around this crucial aspect, local news portal Shanghai Observer reported on Tuesday, one day ahead of the opening of this year's annual session of the congress.

Under this theme for Shanghai, China's economic hub, many touched upon furthering high-quality development, optimizing the business environment, boosting domestic demand, and transitioning toward new growth drivers.

Ensuring that the results of economic development benefit people's living remained a key focus for the deputies. Social welfare-related motions, such as those regarding medical security and employment, accounted for more than 20 percent of the total. The rest were about urban construction and environmental protection, legal frameworks, education and healthcare, agriculture and rural affairs in a descending order.

Of the 1,246 suggestions, 1,229 have been responded by Dec 15, and the rest are still within the statutory time period for processing. Among the processed suggestions, 1,016 have been resolved and accepted, accounting for over 80 percent of the total. There were other 25 that are currently being addressed.

The top 10 keywords mentioned in the suggestions were service, industry, innovation, enterprise, high quality, problems, international, culture, environment, and healthcare.

The Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission, the Shanghai Housing Management Bureau, and the Shanghai Education Commission were ranked the top three among the government departments that handled the largest number of suggestions from the deputies over the past year.

Deputies' focus included facilitating residents' travel, neighborhood governance and urban renewal. They also cared about enhancing higher education and the research capabilities of universities as well as optimizing basic education at primary and junior middle schools.

Facts and figures:

69 motions and 1,246 suggestions: the number of motions and suggestions put forward by deputies to the Shanghai People's Congress in the past year.

Among the motions:

31.88 percent were around economic development

20.29 percent were around medical security and employment

17.39 percent were around urban construction and environmental protection

14.49 percent were around legal frameworks

13.04 percent were around education and healthcare

2.9 percent were around agriculture and rural affairs