BEIJING, Jan. 19 -- The leader of China's biggest city will be content with reduced gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year, in a bid to focus on economic efficiency and quality.

    Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng revealed yesterday that a relatively moderate goal of 11 per cent growth had been set for 2005.

    "The continuous growth of the global and Chinese economies, and the city's history of 13 consecutive years of double-digit growth, all provide a sound base for the city's further development this year," Han said during the third session of the 12th Municipal People's Congress, which started yesterday.

    The GDP goal is 2.5 percentage points lower than last year's figure.

    "Setting a moderate economic growth target can help us further shift our focus from speed to economic quality and efficiency," Han said while outlining his government's achievement for last year and its goals for 2005.

    "In the new year, more efforts will be attributed to optimizing the industrial structure of the city and improving people's livelihoods."

    Han also highlighted measures the municipal government iss going to take to tackle issues such as increasing employment, the relocation of residents who are moved to give way to urban construction, and traffic problems.

    All of them are closely intertwined with the interests of Shanghai residents.

    According to the mayor, the registered unemployment rate will be kept around 4.5 per cent, and the income of local residents will further increase.

    "The per capita disposable income for urban and rural residents will increase by about 10 per cent and 8 per cent respectively in 2005," he told those in attendance.

    The city will create 500,000 new jobs which will alleviate employment tensions, Han said.

    Social security schemes will also be significantly expanded to cover more rural residents in 2005 in an attempt to further reduce the gap between rich and poor.

    Meanwhile exports, an important cog in the city's economic growth and a big source of employment opportunities, are set to increase by 15 per cent, Han said.

    Speaking after the mayor, Shanghai Development and Reform Commission Director Jiang Yingshi said: "Looking ahead for the year, we will have many opportunities, but challenges also exist. Some bottlenecks that are causing problems need to be resolved."

    A lack of energy is one of them.

    "Resource restrictions are posing increasingly greater problems to the local economy," Jiang said.

    To keep a better eye on the situation, the government has added a new goal to its 2005 endeavours.

    It wants to keep energy consumption, per 10,000 yuan (US$1,200) of GDP, to below 1.02 tons of standard coal. The 2003 average was about 1.1 tons.

    "The city should fully understand the importance of saving energy and natural resources wherever possible. A better system needs to be set up in the city to do so," he said.

    Apart from the critical issue of energy, fluctuations in exchange rates, interest rates, oil prices, housing prices and stock prices will pose challenges for the city's development over the next 12 months.

    "The year 2005 is the last year of the 10th Five-Year Plan period and also an important year in our preparations for the 2010 World Expo," Han said.

    "Maintaining healthy economic and social development momentum is extremely important."

(Source: China Daily)