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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