Government plans drive to improve its social services

Residents of Northeast China's Jilin will see improvements across the province as a result of a campaign to improve quality of life and environmental protection this year, according to the local government.

Jilin Governor Bayin Chaolu said the government should set up a correct orientation for its work in the new year by promoting innovative, comprehensive, green, open and safe development.

Delegates at the second session of the 12th People's Congress of Jilin discuss development plans for 2014. Ding Luyang / China Daily

Local farmers expect fundamental growth in incomes as the government's plan for 2014 focuses more on improving people's livelihood and developing agriculture. Wang Haofei / For China Daily

Jilin-produced trains, locomotives and other equipment have contributed greatly to China's high-speed railway system. Wang Haofei / For China Daily

"Instead of putting too much emphasis on gross domestic product, we should bring quality growth to a more prominent position and direct our efforts to the kind of work that paves the way for future development and produces long-term benefits," he said in his government work report at the second session of the province's 12th people's congress that opened on Jan 21.

He proposed in his report eight major tasks for the government in 2014, including boosting local market demand, improving residents' life, promoting environmental protection through emission reduction, increasing investment in fixed assets, and bolstering agricultural development.

Specifically, the government among others will strive to create 500,000 jobs in urban areas, contain the urban unemployment rate within 4.5 percent, and cut energy consumption by 2 percent.

"These goals indicate that the provincial government has attached greater importance to people's livelihood and environmental protection," said Bing Zheng, a delegate of the province's political consultative conference.

"As a matter of fact, you will find such words as environmental treatment and protection appear repeatedly if you read the governor's report thoroughly."

Focus on environment

Bing said Jilin has a better environment compared with other provinces and the government that has long been concerned with the issue has made it a greater priority this year.

According to the report, local environmental authorities will implement the nation's energy-saving regulations and draw up another 10 specific environmental protection plans.

They will also speed up efforts to introduce clean fuels, set up a pollution warning system in counties and cities, and phase out heavily polluting vehicles.

Compared with those targets, the Jilin government has set a less ambitious goal for GDP growth, with a rate of about 8 percent, and the target for investment in fixed assets has been set at 15 percent in 2014.

Statistics show that the province's GDP in 2013 hit 1.3 trillion yuan ($214.55 billion), an annual increase of 8.3 percent, and its investment in fixed assets surged by 20 percent from the previous year to 1.01 trillion yuan.

Bing said the modest goals imply that Jilin is finishing the preliminary stage of industrial development at which GDP growth is prioritized at the expense of the ecosystem.

"We are now getting rid of it (the old model) and shifting to green and safe development," said Bing.

Environmentally friendly industries like service and high technology will be new highlights of Jilin's industrial development, according to the governor's work report.

Bayin Chaolu said the provincial government will initiate a three-year campaign to bolster Jilin's service industries. The campaign focuses on the development of 10 industries, such as cultural tourism and health services. The plan also calls for the construction of 30 industry clusters for the service sector and the development of about 700 projects.

The government also plans to enlarge the percentage of high-tech industries in its economic portfolio, according to the governor's report.

In addition to other industries, it will make efforts to fuel the development of optoelectronics, biochemistry, fine chemistry and chemical materials. Local authorities are also urged to help turn scientific findings into mass production and increase their research and development budget by at least 20 percent.

Li Yuanyuan, president of Jilin University, said it took foresight and courage for the government of a less-developed region as Jilin to propose such plans.

He said his university would introduce and cultivate more scientists and make every effort to improve the level of their studies to contribute to the province's scientific development.

Private economy

Besides, the government will stimulate the development of private companies by allowing them to enter into industries that used to reject their participation, including infrastructure and public utilities.

It expects private capital to account for 70 percent of total investment in those industries in 2014 and the combined revenue of private companies to grow by 14 percent.

Another highlight of the government report is to implement 42 programs to improve people's livelihood ranging from employment and education to housing and social security.

In addition to raising pension levels, the government will scale up the per capita annual healthcare allowance from 280 yuan to 350 yuan. It also plans to build 31 industrial zones and parks where fresh college graduates and migrant workers can start businesses.

The government will help 3.9 million farmers find jobs in urban areas and aims to increase farmers' per capita yearly income to 3,500 yuan.

The government will increase investment in central heating capacity expansion to cover another 50 million square meters of buildings and renovate 1,500 kilometers of old heat-supplying pipelines.

It will update urban water supply systems, extending drinking water to another 1 million rural population.

In addition, it will start construction on more than 280,000 apartments included in the local affordable housing project and finish 230,000 of them by the year's end.

Local transport authorities will increase the number of buses to 1,440, expand parking lots by another 110,000 square meters, build 3 million square meters of roads, and renovate or consolidate 24 bridges in 2014.

Residents will have better access to safer food and cheaper medicine as the government will further tighten controls on their regulation.

Other tasks mentioned in the report include increasing grain production to 32.5 billion kg, promoting the drive to modernize agriculture and strengthening trade relations with neighboring Russia and North Korea.

Bayin Chaolu also urged his colleagues to streamline administrative procedures, enhance public services, promote the process to build a law-based government, strengthen efforts to combat corruption and improve their work style.

lifusheng@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/28/2014 page24)