Beijing Vice-Mayor Zhang Mao said the city will further open its infrastructure construction market and other parts of the public sector to global investors.

Zhang said water, gas, waste water treatment and toll highway infrastructure projects will attract non-public investment of 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion).

Zhang revealed this in a report to the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, the city's legislature.

The vice-mayor said a franchising system is expected to be introduced in urban public facility construction and city operation.

Public bidding will also be used in choosing the daily operators of landscaping in Beijing to cut government spending, he said.

Currently, parts of the infrastructural facility market and other public sectors in Beijing are open to non-public investors, sources said.

A total of 10 projects in the fields of expressway and wastewater treatment have collected investments of 5 billion yuan (US$600 million) from the society, according to Zhang.

Meanwhile, the operating right for the newly-built urban railway system will attract international investment.

Furthermore, non-public investment was also introduced to the education and medical sectors.

Two independent colleges at the Capital Normal University and the Beijing Technology and Business University have attracted social investment of around 300 million yuan (US$36 million).

The two colleges were pilot projects in the transformation of the management mechanisms in higher education, Zhang said.

Public universities are currently funded by the government.

In the medical sector, the public Beijing Tiantan Hospital and the Fengtai Railway Central Hospital have joined hands to build a joint-stock hospital.

The Beijing municipal government will also use foreign capital to build a joint-stock international children's hospital.

In another development, Vice-Mayor Liu Zhihua told local legislators yesterday that the city will start drafting its land use plan for 2005-20.

The plan will be in tune with the overall urban layout of Beijing, which has been completed by the municipal government, Liu said.

At yesterday's conference, the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress decided to stop enforcing some administrative licensing items in local regulations.

The decision was made according to the Administrative Licensing Law, which came into effect on July 1.

The regulation on authorizing the publishing of overseas publications was rescinded, along with another regulation on the granting authorization to the importing of audio and video products or producing such products.

Regulations on the examination of imported audio and video products were also scrapped.

Yesterday's conference of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress decided that the third session of the 12th Beijing Municipal People's Congress will be held on January 23 next year.

The annual session of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress is normally held early in the year, ahead of Spring Festival and the annual session of the National People's Congress, which is usually held in March, sources said.

(China Daily December 2, 2004)