There may have been a setback last year, but China is determined to meet its energy-saving and pollution-control targets between 2006 and 2010, Premier Wen Jiabao said yesterday.

The government set the goal of reducing energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 20 percent and major pollutants discharge by 10 percent in the 11th Five-Year Plan.

Wen said in a report on the work of the government at the opening meeting of the fifth full session of the 10th National People's Congress that China's energy consumption per unit of GDP in 2006 went down 1.2 percent, and oxygen chemical demand and sulfur dioxide emission rose 1.2 percent and 1.8 percent respectively.

He told the 2,890 deputies that the country fell short of the targets set at the beginning of last year for cutting energy consumption per unit of GDP by four percent and discharge of major pollutants by two percent.

"The targets can't be revised and we must work resolutely to reach them," Wen said.

He noted that the State Council, or cabinet, will make annual reports on the progress made in saving energy and reducing major pollutant discharge to the NPC starting this year, and report the overall progress made over the past five years at the end of the 11th Five-Year (2006-2010).

He blamed slow industrial restructuring and over-heated growth of heavy industry, especially the high energy-consuming and polluting sectors, for failure to attain the two goals.

Official statistics showed the growth gap between the light and heavy industries expanded to 4.1 percent for the whole year of 2006 from 1.8 percent in the first half.

Wen said the state won't approve any new projects that fail to pass the government's energy-saving and environmental-impact assessments, and will close businesses that fail to comply with standards.
Zhu Hongren, deputy director of the economic operation bureau at the National Development and Reform Commission, said China's extensive economic growth has gone beyond the bearing ability of the environment and resources. "We are left with no other alternatives but to meet the targets," said Zhu.

China can still meet the two targets by 2010, said Lin Yifu, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

"But it all depends on how well local officials implement the centrally set control policies," said Lin, also director of the China Center for Economic Research at Beijing University.