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China to evaluate local officials
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-06-19 09:14

In addition to Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei, Gansu provinces and Shanghai have also decided to evaluate officials' performance on energy conservation.

Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan called earlier this month for the establishment of a new evaluation system that relates energy-efficiency to the appraisal of local officials.

Zeng admitted that the current situation of energy-saving in China is worrying.
Governmental statistics show that from 2001 to 2005, the average growth rate of China's energy consumption was six percentage points higher than the country's economic growth rate.

Energy consumption per 10,000 U.S. dollars of economic output in China is 3.4 times of the world's average.

In March this year, Premier Wen Jiabao announced at the annual session of the National People's Congress that China will strive to cut its energy consumption per unit of GDP by 4 percent in 2006.

It was the first time that China has linked energy-efficiency with the economic growth index.

According to the 11th five-year development plan (2006-2010), China is determined to reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent in the coming five years, and change the country into a resources-saving and environment-friendly society.

China must reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP by an annual rate of at least 4.4 percent in a bid to fulfill the five-year target, experts said.

It is a good change for the country to encourage officials to take into consideration energy consumption while seeking economic growth, said Michael Enright, a professor with the Sun Hung Kai Business School of Hong Kong University.

"China can realize sustainable growth if it shifts to balance economic and social development," the professor said.


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