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Beijing mayor worries about pollution, rudeness
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-01-26 14:20
Beijing's Mayor Wang Qishan delivers his work report during the Beijing Municipal People's Congress in Beijing January 26, 2007. Wang gave the city high marks with less than two years to go before the Olympics, but said he remained worried about traffic, pollution, corruption -- and how to make his citizens more "civilized". [Reuters]
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Beijing's mayor gave the city high marks on Friday with less than two years to go before the Olympics, but said he remained worried about traffic, pollution, corruption -- and how to make residents more "civilised".
Speaking in his annual work report to the city's rubber stamp legislative body, Wang Qishan said Olympic projects were on schedule, bus fares had gone down, toilets renovated, new roads built and the economy grew 12 percent.
"The economy and society sustained stable, rapid development, and new successes were achieved in making Beijing a good model of a harmonious society," Wang told the more than 700 delegates, including soldiers, Buddhist monks and at least one nun.
"The year 2007 is the decisive year in our preparations for the Olympic Games," Wang said, speaking in a cavernous hall at a modern convention centre in a remote, northern Beijing suburb.
"With only 560 days to go before the opening of the Olympics, we are faced with the challenge of limited time, arduous tasks and heavy responsibilities, so we cannot let up in any of our work this year," he added.
Wang, who has been mayor since February 2004, said Beijing had many problems to deal with, including poor work safety standards, a potential property bubble and growing rich-poor divide.
"Population growth is excessively rapid, and tasks of cleaning up pollution and relieving traffic jams are especially hard, and there is an urgent need to improve the level of city management," said Wang, 58.
"The mix of commercial housing in the market is irrational, prices of commercial housing are rising too quickly and repeated prohibitions against illegal land use fall on deaf ears," he said.
SPITTING, SHOUTING, PUSHING
Wang expressed concern the 15 million residents of Beijing may not yet be up to the task of playing host to the 2008 Olympics, worrying perhaps that ingrained habits like pushing, spitting and shouting could unnerve foreign guests.
"We need to promote a new code of conduct in our preparations for the Olympics in order to make Beijing and its residents more civilised," he said.
"We will continue to cultivate courtesy and civilised behaviour among residents," the mayor, who was born in the coastal resort town of Qingdao, said.
"We need to improve order in public places, paying particular attention to encourage residents of the capital to foster the civilised habit of observing regulations and public order."
Wang made only a brief mention of corruption in his 90-minute speech. Last year prosecutors launched criminal proceedings against former Beijing vice-mayor Liu Zhihua who was suspected of taking millions of yuan in bribes.
Liu had been in charge of building Olympic venues.
"A number of government departments and their employees lack a proper understanding of their service responsibilities and a tiny number of officials use their public position for private gain and become corrupt and degenerate," Wang said.
"We need to pay close attention to these problems."
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