Cities not service-oriented yet: report

A research report said that China's first-tier cities failed to meet public satisfaction in building local government services, despite their high investment in public service infrastructure.

"To build up a service-oriented local government has many aspects. To merely increase the investment on infrastructure won't meet residents' satisfaction," said Wu Wei, director of the Nanyang Center for Public Administration of Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, referring to the index report, which was released on Wednesday.

The report was jointly compiled by Singapore's Nanyang Technological University's Nanyang Center for Public Administration and China's Shanghai Jiao Tong University's School of International and Public Affairs.

The survey, which polled over 23,000 citizens and 3,600 companies, was conducted from May to July in 34 major cities. The index report aims to find out the satisfaction levels of Chinese citizens and businesses with local government services.

Xiamen in Fujian province emerged on top of the list for citizen's satisfaction toward government public service, followed by Qingdao, Hangzhou, Chongqing, Ningbo, Changchun, Haikou, Jinan, Chengdu, Dalian and Yinchuan, which shared the tenth position.

"None of China's first-tier cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, emerged in the list, though the survey found that they have invested a lot in public service infrastructure construction," Wu said. "Local governments should pay attention to this."

wanghongyi@chinadaily.com.cn