Huang Zhendong worked as minister of communications for 12 years and had been to Chongqing several times. But this time, he was to take a thorough look around the historic city, famous for its heavy industry. Now he is the secretary of Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China.

The new secretary held a press conference at the on-going session of the 10th National People's Congress and told of the city in his eyes.

The Fifth Session of 8th National People's Congress adopted a plan for changing Chongqing to the fourth municipality of China on March 14, 1997. Since then, Chongqing became a municipality, reporting directly to central government. The other municipalities are Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin.

"Why did the central government decided to set Chongqing as a municipality? Is it because of the Three Gorges Dam Project?" Huang Zhendong said, "People like to ask those questions when we mention Chongqing."

"I don't think so. There are more reasons for Chongqing to become a municipality," he said. After four months' research, Huang Zhendong believes that the Three Gorges Project just brought an opportunity for the development of Chongqing, and Chongqing has a special role to play in the nation's social development strategy.

Huang introduces that the Three Gorges Dam is an unprecedented cross-century project. It has as its main object the flood control, power generation, navigation, water supply and environment protection of the area. The project also presents daunting problems. Resettlement of its population is one of the most difficulty problems of the project, especially for Chongqing.

Chongqing has to move 1.03 million people from the reservoir area, about 85.5 percent of the total emigration number in the reservoir area. In order to make the project go smoothly, the central government decided to make Chongqing the municipality in order to better the program, and arrange and administer the emigration problem. The decision of the central government is correct. Until last year, more than 560,000 people were resettled. This looks like it is on course for its date of June 1.

The central government hopes Chongqing will play more roles as the only city directly under the central government in western China. Huang believes the roles mean that: first, they will further strengthen Chongqing's role as an economic center in the area covering the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and in promoting economic and social development of the area in the surrounding lands. Second, Chongqing is not only an important heavy industrial base of China but also the largest central city in areas drained by the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

Chongqing people will tell you that Chongqing has become more beautiful in recent years. Local people are enjoying better transportation facilities and a cleaner environment. Chongqing people have also changed. They are more unified and open-minded.

Huang said that according to the statistics in the last five years, the whole economy of Chongqing has entered a new stage.

The GDP of Chongqing went from 137.5 billion yuan (US$16.61 billion) in 1997 to 197.1 billion yuan (US$23.81 billion) in 2002. The GDP increases at an annual rate of 8.7 percent, 1 percentage point higher than the nation level. The disposable income of urban residents increases at an annual rate of 7.2 percent, from 5,323 yuan (US$643.11) in 1997 to 7,238 yuan (US$874.48) in 2002. The usable income of rural residents increases at an annual rate of 5.54 percent, from 1643 yuan (US$198.50) in 1997 to 2098 yuan (US$253.47) in 2002, higher than the 1.74 percent annual rate of the nation.

Chongqing has made great achievements in urban construction. The tidy Hongyan Square, newly renovated Gele Mountain Revolution History Museum and the Yang Jiapin pedestrian street are the new landscapes of the city. In the past five years, Chongqing has made great efforts on these projects and attempted to establish the urban area as a garden city with beautiful scenery and also to green the Three Gorges Dam reservoir area.

Now, the afforestation coverage of the reservoir area is 27.2 percent, and the environment of the city has improved. The city's traffic become smoother, the history of hilly and rugged roads in Chongqing has been changed. Nowadays, Chongqing has more than 20 bridges crossing the Yangtze River and the Jialing River.

How to make greater progress? Huang Zhendong suggested that Chongqing has made three steps to build an affluent society, according to the demands of the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

First, its GDP will reach 265 billion yuan (US$32.02 billion) and the per capita share of GDP will reach US$1,000 in 2005. The local government will facilitate the smooth implementation of the strategy geared to move people out of the reservoir area, fight against poverty, reform China's state companies and protect its environment.

Second, GDP will reach 430 billion yuan (US$51.95 billion)and the per capita share of GDP will reach US$1800 in 2010. At the same time the government will finish building the basic framework that will turn Chongqing into an economic center on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

At last, GDP will reach 950 billion to 1 trillion yuan (US$114.78 to 120.82 billion) and the per capita share of GDP will reach US$3500 by 2020. Local people will live in an affluent society and Chongqing will be the economic center of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

Huang said that Chongqing will invest 100 billion yuan (US$12.08 billion) on the construction of 1,600 km expressway and 3,000 km highway. The shipping and the waterway situation will be greatly improved after the Three Gorges Dam is completed. At that time, 3,000 ton ships will be able to enter Chongqing through the Yangtze River directly.

(China.org.cn by Staff Reporter Yan Xinxia, translated by Wu Nanlan, March 15, 2003)