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Mayor sets out Olympic pledge for 2005
By Liu Li (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-01-23 21:48
Beijing Mayor Wang Qishan yesterday vowed to make this year a key action year
in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games.
"We will spare no efforts to ensure successful completion of Olympic venues
and auxiliary facilities," he said, giving a report on the work of the municipal
government delivered at the third session of the 12th Beijing Municipal People's
Congress, which opened yesterday.
Wang Qishan. [file
photo] | "New venues, the National Conference Centre, the Olympic Village and the
journalists' village will start construction this year," the mayor said.
But he did not give the name list of the venues that will break ground in
2005.
"We will speed up road building and building facilities surrounding the
venues and start work on scenic projects in the central area of the Olympic
Park," Wang said.
He also vowed to strengthen supervision and auditing work to make sure all
preparations were above board.
Wang said construction of the four urban railway lines will be sped up this
year.
Building of five sewage treatment plants will also be accelerated.
Air pollution will get its share of treatment, with 2,000 boilers that
formerly burned coal converted to using clean energy this year.
Up to 3,800 buses that used to run on diesel oil have stopped running. Up to
20,000 taxis that fail to meet the European III emissions standard will be
replaced by new and environmentally friendly cars.
The mayor made an appeal to construction managers to improve their operations
to meet the requirements of the Games.
"It is more difficult now to manage the whole city with the acceleration of
urbanization," Wang said.
Issues related to farmers, agriculture and rural areas were also emphasized
by the mayor in his work report.
"More government investment will be injected into these rural areas," he
said.
Ding Xiangyang, director of the Beijing Municipal Commission for Development
and Reform, said government investment in the city's rural areas would reach 7.7
billion yuan (US$930 million) this year, 50 per cent of total government
spending.
Figures for last year showed that spending by the government in rural areas
came to 40 per cent in total, 20 per cent in 2003.
Wang's report said the municipal government's investment in the public sector
reached 13 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion) last year, 28 per cent higher than in
2003.
The public sector includes public health,schools, scientific research,
culture and historic relic protection.
Public funds of 480 million yuan (US$58 million) were injected into building
rural schools in Beijing.
As well as listing the achievements made by the municipal government in the
past year, Wang pointed out various problems.
"Beijing has restricted water and land resources. Use of resources is not
efficient enough," he said.
The mayor also said the income gap between different groups in the city was
vast.
He said the local government needs to improve work efficiency and stamp out
corruption, which was still a problem.
Xi Wenqi, a congress deputy, urged the municipal government to strictly abide
by law in administration, said: "The goals set in the work report can be
achieved only when the government administration is indeed based on
law."
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