Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, April 21, 2002
China's Top Legislator on Progress Made in Chongqing
China's top legislator Li Peng said Saturday that the development of Chongqing City has proved that the central government was correct in putting the city under its direct jurisdiction in 1997.
China's top legislator Li Peng said Saturday that the development of Chongqing City has proved that the central government was correct in putting the city under its direct jurisdiction in 1997.
Addressing a seminar on the fifth anniversary of Chongqing as a city under direct jurisdiction of the central government and on the Western Development Program, Li said social and economic changes have taken place in this leading industrial city in southwest China.
Li, chairman of the Standing Committee of National People's Congress (NPC), said the gross domestic product of the city rose to 175 billion yuan in 2001 from 117.9 billion yuan in 1996 while fiscal revenue and the income of residents also increased to varying degrees.
He said there are three great opportunities for the municipality: the ongoing construction of the Three Gorges Water Conservation Project, which is expected to cost 180 billion yuan; the rise of the city in its status; and the campaign launched by the central government to develop the country's vast and poor western region, including the city.
Chongqing also has the problems of relocating about one million residents for the project and of fighting poverty and urban unemployment involving the state-owned enterprises, said Li. He urged the city to make more efforts to improve its infrastructure and upgrade transportation facilities.