Echo Hu/ Shanghai Daily news

City mayor Han Zheng stressed the importance of energy conservation as part of the city's healthy economic development during his inspection yesterday of how Shanghai is implementing its energy-saving tasks.

Han said that this year's energy-saving target of reducing the discharge of pollutants by 2 percent, must be achieved. He praised the city's energy conservation progress so far, while pointing out that more effort was still needed and that the task was arduous.

Han detailed measures to be taken on energy conservation at the working conference held after his inspection.

The measures include:

-- tightening the supervision and management on high energy consumption and polluting industries and encouraging the restructuring and upgrading of the enterprises involved in those industries;

-- eliminating backward production methods and technology;

-- encouraging the development and use of renewable energy as well as energy-saving technology;

-- using price adjustment to promote awareness of energy conservation;

-- adding investment in energy-saving and cutting pollutants;

-- promoting the construction of sewage treatment factory and the development of desulfuration projects;

-- strengthening the assessment of the pollution discharge index of enterprises with high energy consumption..