The following are the major facts described by mayors and governors at the opening session of local people's congresses. Other provinces and autonomous regions are preparing or in working with their congress sessions this week.

Beijing

Beijing Mayor Liu Qi yesterday outlined a development plan up to 2008 in his government report, with the aim of realizing an overall modernization and turning Beijing into a top international metropolis.

He said it was crucial for the capital to record a 9 percent annual growth rate in the next five years, to ensure that per capita gross domestic product (GDP) reaches US$6,000 by 2008.

Liu made the remarks at the opening session of the week-long 12th Beijing Municipal People's Congress, which will elect a new mayor at the weekend.

Liu's report revealed that Beijing would keep on expanding domestic demand and carry out a pro-active fiscal policy, aiming to ensure that retail sales and fixed-assets investment both exceed 200 billion yuan (US$24 billion) this year.

The mayor maintained that a sound ecosystem is a must to facilitate Beijing's economic development. In 2003, Beijing will implement the stricter automobile emissions standards of Euro II, reduce the coal consumption by 1 million tons and increase the sewage treatment rate to 50 percent from the current 45 percent.

The municipal government will also put more efforts into improving the social security system, aiming to create 200,000 more job vacancies this year and keeping the unemployment rate within 2.5 percent, said Liu.

He said that Beijing had witnessed an average GDP growth rate of 10.5 percent over the past five years.

The city's 2002 GDP reached 313 billion yuan (US$38 billion) with per capita GDP exceeding US$3,300, Liu said.

Guangdong

Governor of South China's Guangdong Province Lu Ruihua said yesterday that the province will keep an economic growth rate of 9 percent over the next five years.

He promised to expand cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao this year to build the Pearl River Delta into one of the world's economic powerhouses.

In his government work report to the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress yesterday, Lu said Guangdong's advantages lie in its proximity to the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions (SARs).

To achieve this, Guangdong will speed up construction of its infrastructure facilities, particularly projects that link the southern province to the two SARs later this year.

Guangdong is planning to build a new western corridor to link Shekou in Shenzhen to Hong Kong.

And feasibility studies are also being conducted to construct a new bridge connecting Zhuhai in the western part of the Pearl River to Hong Kong.

Lu also promised to further upgrade facilities of its exit and entry ports and provide even better service to increase exchange of personnel and expand the logistics industry.

Lu also urged the further expansion of economic ties between the province and overseas nations and regions, noting that foreign trade is playing an increasingly important role in Guangdong's economic development.

Sichuan

Southwest China's Sichuan Province will strive to achieve an annual average GDP growth rate of 9.2 percent in the next five years, said Governor Zhang Zhongwei yesterday in his government work report.

By 2007, the province's GDP will register 742.5 billion yuan (US$90 billion) and a per capita GDP of 8,535 yuan (US$1,031).

The governor said that the province would have invested a total of 1,200 billion yuan (US$145 billion) in fixed assets by 2007.

This investment will increase its expressway network to 2,000 kilometers, build 10,000 kilometers of new rural roads, and increase its hydropower generating capacity to 25 million kilowatts to build the country's largest hydropower base.

With the goal of strengthening its ecosystem, especially in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Sichuan will ensure that 30 percent of its land is covered with trees and effectively reduce the amount of mud and sand discharged into rivers by 2007, Zhang said.

Tibet

The Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China has witnessed an average annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 10.9 percent over the last five years, a senior regional government official, said on Saturday.

The region's GDP for 2002 was expected to reach 15.9 billion yuan (US$1.92 billion) and fiscal revenue to reach 730 million yuan (US$88.27 million), Legqog, chairman of the regional people's government, told the ongoing first session of the Eighth Tibet Autonomous Regional People's Congress.

The two figures were respectively 2.5 times and twice those of 1997, Legqog said in his work report delivered at the meeting.

Big growth was also reported in bank savings deposits, retail sales, industrial value-added sectors, tourism, foreign trade and private businesses.

Fixed-assets investment totaled 35.6 billion yuan (US$4.3 billion) in the past five years, 2.5 times the figure for the previous five-year period.

Legqog said the total length of highways opened to traffic in the region reached 35,538 kilometers by the end of 2002, an increase of more than 13,000 kilometers over 1997. The installed capacity of power plants totaled 376,000 kilowatts, 26 percent more than that of 1997.

(China Daily January 14, 2003)