The Ninth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) distributed a record 3,218 proposals to concerned governmental departments Thursday.

The proposals were submitted by committee members during an annual session that closed last Saturday.

In the past year, the committee's proposals have covered all of China's major goals: State enterprise reform, development and economic restructuring, for example. Some also covered the role of Taiwanese-funded firms. Most of these proposals have been forwarded to the next level for evaluation.

Electricity price change is one thing that stemmed from a 1999 CPPCC proposal.

The State Development Planning Commission checked the CPPCC's ideas and submitted them to be included in a government policy.

Wu Wenying, vice-director of the Subcommittee of Proposal Handling of Ninth CPPCC National Committee, expressed optimism about improvements in CPPCC proposal handling this year.

"First of all, we improved related systems last year, stipulating specific and complete responsibilities of the parties involved in the handling process," she said.

"Secondly, as we all can see, the CPPCC has put the proposal to work in an important position during this session."

The Third Session of the Ninth CPPCC National Committee restored an old pattern of doing business: At the opening ceremony of the session, a CPPCC vice-chairman gave a work report on the handling of proposals, and at the closing ceremony, a related resolution would be passed.

In the past four years, this annual report was delivered by the director of the subcommittee as part of a plenary-meeting speech.

While all CPPCC proposals submitted during this session should be addressed by August, government departments have three months to handle proposals submitted after this session and before the next session.

"For those needing extra time, the responsible departments should explain reasons to the members submitting the proposals and my subcommittee," said Wu.(Chinadaily)