Beijing and Shanghai yesterday set ambitious and identical
economic growth targets of 9 percent annually for the next five
years while pledging to improve the quality of life for their
residents.
Beijing Mayor Wang Qishan said the highlights of the five-year
plan are the hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games, and building a city
that is "safe, convenient and comfortable".
The Games are generating a great impetus for the capital's
development, Wang said while delivering a draft report on Beijing's
11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) at the annual meeting of the
municipal people's congress.
The city should grasp the opportunity to build itself into a
world-class tourism destination and international exhibition
center, he said.
By 2010, Beijing's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita
should double the 2000 figure at about US$5,400. GDP in 2005 is
expected to be 660 billion yuan (US$81.45 billion), representing an
annual increase of 9 percent, Wang said.
But it is not just the economy which will hog the agenda.
"Harmonious development among people, resources and the environment
as well economic and social progress are crucial,'" Wang said.
Some of the key features of the plan include:
??Contain the permanent population within 16 million by
2010. The figure reached 15.3 million in 2005, 1.66 million higher
than five years earlier.
??Accelerate the shift of economic structure and growth
modes with the development of high-end industries. For example,
modern tertiary industries are set to account for 72 percent of
overall industrial output.
??Eliminate monopolies and draft preferential policies for
cultural industries.
In Shanghai, Mayor Han Zheng set a target of 9 percent annual
growth for GDP to reach 1.5 trillion yuan (US$185 billion) in 2010,
up 40 percent from 2005.
Speaking to the municipal people's congress, he said the
economic powerhouse would complete the infrastructure building for
it to be a global economic, financial, trade and shipping center in
the next five years.
"Through these ambitious goals, both the city's international
competitiveness and residents' living standards will be improved,"
he added.
His vision matches the city's theme for its 2010 World Expo,
"Better City, Better Life".
Among the key features of the Shanghai work plan are:
??Increase spending on research and development to 2.8
percent of GDP. The figure in 2005 was about 2.3 percent.
??Raise contribution of the high-tech industry from 58
percent to 65 percent of industrial output.
??Spend no less than 3 percent of GDP on the environment;
and power consumption per unit of GDP to fall by 20 percent from
the 2005 level. Green coverage to reach 38 percent, one percentage
point higher than now.
??Maintain the registered unemployment rate at 4.5
percent.
??Reconstruct 4 million square meters of dilapidated and
old residential housing.
??Increase subway coverage from the present 153 kilometers
to 400 kilometers.
Further, expansion on the two international airports, one each
in Beijing and Shanghai, will start this year. The refurbished
airports should double the cities' annual passenger volume capacity
to more than 80 million.
(China Daily January 16, 2006)?