REPORT ON THE WORK OF THE GOVERNMENT
Delivered at the First Session of the Fourteenth Beijing Municipal People's Congress on January 22, 2013
Wang Anshun, Acting Mayor of Beijing
Fellow Deputies:
On behalf of the Beijing Municipal People's Government, I now present to the current session of the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress the report on the work of the government in the past five years and recommendations for this year's work for your deliberation and approval, and I would also like to invite members of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) to make comments and suggestions.
I. Review of the Work in the Past Five Years
The past five years since 2008 have been extraordinary years of historical importance in the development process of the capital. Under the strong leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the State Council and the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, the people of the city have conscientiously carried forward the spirit of the 17th CPC National Congress, put in practice the strategy of building a People’s Beijing, High-tech Beijing and Green Beijing in a deep-going way, come up with the "Beijing spirit" by summing up past experience, successfully fulfilled the 11th Five-Year Plan, went all out for the implementation of the 12th Five-Year Plan in all aspects and made remarkable achievements in the reform and opening up and in the modernization cause.
1. Full preparations made for the successful hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games and the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the National Day
Implementing the concept of "Green Olympics, High-tech Olympics and People's Olympics" in all aspects and with the national institutional advantages and the full participation and dedication of the people, we successfully staged the remarkable Olympic Games and Paralympic Games that were full of Chinese features and had fulfilled the century-old Olympic dream of the Chinese nation. In keeping with the highest standards, Beijing mobilized the whole city, made all the preparations for the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the founding of New China and accomplished the goal of "frugally and smoothly staging magnificent and joyful celebrations”. The successful completion of the Olympic Games and the National Day celebrations have effectively elevated the civilization, services and management level of Beijing and materialized the strategic vision of "New Beijing, Great Olympics", leaving us with precious material and cultural legacy and ushering the development of the capital into a new phase.
2. The economy of the capital entering a new stage
We earnestly implemented the decisions and plans made by the central government, responded to the impact of the international financial crisis in a pro-active manner, and developed a series of timely measures to ensure steady growth and people's well-being. We overcame difficulties, deepened reform, withstood the severe tests of the complex economic vicissitude and maintained a steady and fairly rapid economic growth. According to preliminary accounting, the city’s gross regional product (GRP) in 2012 reached 1.78 trillion RMB Yuan, at an average annual growth rate of 9.1% for five years in a row; and its per capita GRP increased to 13,797 US dollars, the level of upper-middle-income countries; the fixed-asset investment across the city reached 646.28 billion RMB Yuan, at an average annual growth rate of 14.8%; and the total retail sales of consumer goods in society amounted to 770.28 billion RMB Yuan, two times that of 2007. Public budgetary revenue increased to 331.49 billion RMB Yuan, at an average annual growth rate of 17.3%.
3. Economic restructuring and transformation accelerated
The industrial structure was further improved. The proportions of the productive services industry and the cultural and creative industry in the industrial structure rose to 5.6% and 2.1% respectively, compared with those of 2007, and that of the service industry from 73.5% to 76.4%. The high-tech manufacturing industry developed quickly and the metropolis modern agriculture system took shape. The capital economy manifested its own characteristics more clearly. Significant progress was made in the development of Zhongguancun National Innovation Demonstration Zone, with the total revenue of the enterprises in the Demonstration Zone amounting to 2.4 trillion RMB Yuan, 2.7 times that of 2007. The research and development capacity of the whole society exceeded 5.8% and the total turnover from technology transaction contracts accounted for 38.2% of the country’s total. The development of key functional areas was accelerated and the contribution of the Six High-end Functional Areas to the city’s entire economy exceeded 40%. Priority was given to energy conservation and emission reduction in key areas. In this context, we completed the project to close and relocate the steel plant of the Shougang Group in Shijingshan District; closed a cumulative total of 446 high-pollution and high-energy and water-consumption enterprises; and put to an end the thousand-year-old small coal mining activities. The consumption of energy and water cumulatively went down by over 25% and 32% per unit GRP respectively. Beijing led the country in energy conservation and emission reduction and it ranked the first in the country in terms of the comprehensive development indexes for many years in a row.
4. More coordinated and balanced urban and rural development
We continued to improve the policy system to strengthen agriculture, benefit farmers and facilitate rural prosperity. We completed the main part of the reform of the rural collective property rights system and that of the rural collective forest tenure system. And 120 thousand farmers were employed in posts for the good of the public, such as forest rangers and water tenders. The Municipal Government of Beijing put more than 50% of its investment to suburban areas for eight years in a row. Now, all its urban districts and suburban counties were accessible by highways or expressways, all the newly built towns in its suburban counties were provided with central heating systems, and almost all villages had access to paved roads and public transportation means. An accumulative sum of 28 billion RMB Yuan was invested, the "5+3" Project to build new rural communities was completed, and the living and working conditions of farmers were markedly improved. Marked results were achieved in the implementation of the 3-year action plan for the development of the southern part of Beijing and the urbanization of 50 key rural villages in the city-country fringe areas. The development of new satellite cities including Tongzhou and the transformation and upgrading of the western part of Beijing were accelerated. The Ecological Improvement Areas showed greater vitality. All this has laid a solid foundation for the development of the city in a scientific manner.
5. Continued improvement in the city development and management
Approximately 190 billion RMB Yuan was invested in five years, with which 300 km of rail transit was built, extending the rail transit to 442 km. A holistic traffic congestion control strategy of combining construction, control and restriction measures was implemented and a generally smooth city traffic operation was ensured, in spite of an increase of 2.1 million motor vehicles. A number of major projects were completed and put to use, including the Beijing section along the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project and the city power grid improvement project, which has visibly enhanced the city’s capacity for making resources and energy available. Efforts were intensified to comprehensively control and treat pollution. The concentration of main atmospheric pollutants declined by 29.3%; the proportion of the incineration or biochemical treatment of house refuse went up from 10% to 50%; 83% of the city’s sewage was treated and 61% of the recycled water used. We made vigorous efforts to plant trees on the plain land of 1 million mu (or about 66,667 hectares). We built a number of forest parks and suburban leisure parks, achieved phased results for such projects as Beijing and Tianjin Sandstorm Source Control Project and the Three North Shelterbelt Project (referring to the forest shelterbelt in the northwestern, northern and northeastern China), and brought the forest coverage of the city up to 38.6%. We implemented the project of protecting 200 key historical and cultural relics and made considerable progress in the protection of the historical areas such as Qianmen Gate and Shichahai. All these efforts have given Beijing a new image of both historical charm and modern vitality.
6. People's well-bing markedly improved
The per capita disposable income for urban and rural residents reached 36,469 RMB Yuan and 16,476 RMB Yuan respectively, at an actual annual growth rate of 7.5% and 8.7%. The farmers’ income grew faster than that of urban residents for four years in a row. The three 3-year action plans for pre-school, primary and secondary education, and tertiary education of colleges and universities under the municipal government were put into practice. There was a cumulative increase of 57,000 places in kindergartens available for kids. A program to ensure the safety of primary and secondary school buildings was carried out. Considerable progress was made in higher education and vocational education. Breakthroughs were made in the reform of the medical institution on separating management from administration and medical care from medicine in public hospitals, the objectives set for the 3-year institutional reform of the medicine and public health system were smoothly accomplished, and medical and health services improved significantly. Art and cultural troupes or institutions were turned into profit-making cultural enterprises through transformation and restructuring. Six Cultural Alliances were established and a 4-level public cultural service system was put in place. Satisfactory results were achieved in competitive sports and the nationwide fitness campaign was carried out vigorously. The uniform employment promotion structure for urban and rural areas was put in place, 2.176 million new jobs were created and the registered unemployment was kept below 2%. The social security benefits were upgraded six times in five years, with the benefit level of each category going up by more than 50%. Vigorous efforts were made to promote the "Greater Civil Affairs Management". The policy of supporting home care services for the disabled and elderly was implemented and measures for preferential treatment to the elderly were adopted, which worked gradually toward social welfare for all to an appropriate extent. We continued to control the development of the real estate market, promoted the structural readjustment of the real estate industry and strengthen the comprehensive improvement of the old and run-down residential areas. We made available some 800 thousand units of subsidized low-income housing of various types. Thanks to efforts made by authorities at all levels in the city, at least one in each family with financial difficulty is employed, the integrated urban and rural old-age social security system was established, a full coverage of the urban and rural medical insurance system was achieved, there was a library in every village, access to radio and television programmes provided for each household and access to low-income rental housing for all eligible families. Our people have shared the fruit of reform and development and they have enjoyed a steadily improved life.
7. New prospects in social progress and service management
We formulated opinions and plans for social development and put them into practice. Beijing was among the first to form a 4-level network of social work. A pilot project was launched for direct registration of social organizations, a mechanism for government bodies to purchase social services provided for by social organizations was developed, and a “Hub-style” Social Work Organizational System was created. Efforts were intensified to build and improve teams of social workers and volunteers. And 7,067 university graduates were selected and dispatched to communities for community work. The sixth population census was successfully completed and fresh progress was made in the family planning work. Progress was also made in the work related to ethnic and religious affairs. The targets set in the 5th Five-Year Plan on Legal Popularization were all fully accomplished and effective efforts were made to steadily implement the 6th Five-Year Plan on Legal Popularization. Fresh progresses was registered in the "double supporting programme" (i.e. the government supporting the army and granting preferential treatment to the armymen’s families while the army supporting the government and loving the people) and in the building of reserve forces for national defense. Armed forces stationed in Beijing made important contribution to the modernization and signature events of the capital. Efforts were redoubled to strengthen comprehensive supervision and control, cracking down on illegal or law-breaking production and business activities, and correcting and reversing all acts in violation of rules or regulations. The number of production safety accidents fell down by 27.4% compared with 2007. A social stability risks evaluation mechanism for major decisions was introduced and a risks evaluation system at the municipal, district/county and neighbourhood levels was by and large put in place. Leading officials redoubled their efforts to receive people with complaints and to inspect units under them. We made a serious effort to identify and dissolve social conflicts, establish a plural conflicts mediation system and encouraged an effective coordination and complementation among three mediation mechanisms, namely, people's mediation, administrative mediation and judicial mediation. For five years in a row, the total number of letters of complaints or petitions, that of the collective appeal actions and of joint letters of petition all went down. We improved the social management through innovative measures, implemented a comprehensive system for mesh management of services in all departments and start the village management in the form of communities by categories. The campaign for a "Peaceful Beijing" went ahead in a deep-going manner, the law and order improvement system was more effectively used, the mechanism for investigation and control of security cases further improved, services and management of the floating population and people of special needs were enhanced, a new police work modelwas created and the security and stability of the capital were consolidated.
8. New breakthroughs made in reform and opening up
The administrative division of the Core Functional Area of the Capital was readjusted and the administrative resources of Daxing District and Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone were consolidated. The reform and restructuring of SOEs were intensified, platforms for the operation of state-owned capital were built or improved, and the city-owned enterprises saw their revenues and profits grow up by 97% and 88% over 2007 respectively. We issued and implemented the Opinions on Supporting Private Investment and the Development of Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Businesses. The financial management system on the sharing of tax revenue between the city and its districts/counties was further improved. The pilot reform to replace the sales tax with VAT went smoothly. The factor markets for such basic input as the property right, forest tenure and technology were developed and regulated. The financial service system for the rural areas, farmers and agriculture as well as for the small and medium-sized enterprises took shape. Meticulous efforts were made to organize China Beijing International Fair For Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in an attempt to put in place a port-based economic system and phased results were achieved in turning Beijing into an international trade center. The total import and export of the Beijing region reached $407.92 billion, at an annual average growth rate of 16.1%, and over $8 billion of foreign capital was actually utilized. Beijing sponsored and hosted the Inaugural Meeting of the World Tourism Cities Federation, proposed and implemented measures to promote the development of the tourism industry. It received over 5 million person/times overseas visitors in the year. It deepened practical cooperation and exchanges with foreign countries, made solid progress in its work concerning compatriots in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and overseas Chinese, successfully accomplished the post-disaster reconstruction tasks in Shifang and Yushu, and achieved remarkable results in providing one-to-one pairing assistance to the disaster affected areas and in inter-regional cooperation.
9. Fresh progress made in the improvement of the government itself
Beijing Municipal Government fully implemented all the resolutions and decisions of the People's Congress of Beijing and its Standing Committee; unswervingly followed the system of reporting on important matters; conscientiously accepted the supervision by the People's Congress of its work performance and its compliance with the law, and democratic supervision by the Beijing CPPCC committee; and sincerely listened to the comments and suggestions of the democratic parties, the Federation of Industry and Commerce of Beijing, personages without party affiliation and people’s organizations. In the past five years, Beijing Municipal Government processed 17 bills and 7,228 proposals tabled by Deputies to the Beijing Municipal People's Congress and 33 bills and 6,305 proposals tabled by Beijing CPPCC members, submitted 25 pieces of proposed local laws and regulations to the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress for the consideration of the latter, and enacted or amended 41 government laws and regulations. We deepened the reform of the administrative examination and approval system, removing 64 items from the list of items to be subject to administrative examination and approval by municipal departments and delegating the approval power on 126 items to a lower level authority. The institutional reform targets of the municipal, district/county and township governments were fulfilled, the "Three Efficiencies and One Innovation" Performance Management System at both the municipal and district/county levels was introduced and the management of the government work performance was set in motion in full swing. Efforts were intensified to prevent, manage and control risks to a clean government, strengthen administrative supervision and supervision through auditing, and investigated and processed all types of discipline- or law-violation cases.
Looking back to the past five years, we are keenly aware that this is a period in which big events and good things were successfully conducted or done through concerted efforts of all parties in the city and significant progress was made in promoting the development of the capital in a scientific way. The past five years have been a period which has seen solid progress in changing the economic development mode and significant growth in the overall economic strength; a period in which the urban and rural areas have taken on an entirely new outlook and the city has visibly improved its services and management; and also a period which has witnessed greatest efforts in safeguarding and improving people's livelihood and more material benefits for people. What has been achieved in the past five years has not come easily. All this should be attributed to the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee, the State Council and the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, to the unity and hard working of the people of the whole city, to the support and help of the people of all ethnic groups of the country and to the care and support of the people from all walks of life. Here, on behalf of the Beijing Municipal People's Government, I wish to express our high respect and heartfelt thanks to the people of all ethnic groups of the city, Deputies to the People's Congress of Beijing, CPPCC members of Beijing, democratic parties, people’s organizations, people from all walks of life, all departments of the central government, all fraternal provinces/autonomous regions, the People's Liberation Army that station in Beijing, all the armed police officers and soldiers, and all compatriots in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, overseas Chinese and foreign friends who have cared for and supported the development of the capital!
