1. Wenhui Daily: Hello, I’m from Wenhui Daily. I have two questions. The first question goes to Mr Zhang, director of the city’s Environmental Protection Bureau. What measures does the city have to implement the sewage reduction goals for the 11th Five-year Plan period? Some documents say that Shanghai is under great pressure to reduce the total amount of discharged sewage. What is the main source of the problem? Are there measures to alleviate the pressure? The second question is for the government spokesman. How is the city getting along with its program of building a pool of low-rent housing by using the profits from the added value of the public housing fund?

Zhang Quan: The question hits the key point. The COD is one of the main pollutants in water. The water pollution problem has cropped up in Shanghai since the 1970s, and we’ve made it our top job to tackle the water pollution among our efforts to solve environment problems. This can be seen from our work to fight pollution in Suzhou Creek and other major waterways and build a network of sewage treatment plants. As to the reduction of COD during the 11th Five-year Plan period, we plan to cut 15%, or 45,000 tons, in five years, based on 300,000 tons of COD in 2005. The target is the sixth biggest among all the provinces in China. The 15% reduction gives us a great pressure mainly because of two factors. One, the total amount of water consumption is huge in Shanghai where the demand for water use is steadily rising because of the economic growth. The urban areas use about 7 million tons of water annually on average, producing a great amount of sewage. This is the pressure from the economic growth. Second, the pressure is that the capacity of handling sewage lags behind the increasing amount of sewage discharged. The city’s environment projects feature a huge scale and a long circle. For example, the Bailonggang sewage treatment plant was designed with a capacity of 2 million tons, one of the biggest among the world, and that’s why the project demands a packed timetable and a long circle. The most difficult time for us to reach the goal of cutting COD is in the next two years. We have to stepp up the efforts to build the network of sewage treatment plants. We’re going to finish the construction and renovation of more than 30 plants and relevant pipelines, and increase the ratio of second-tier sewage treated to above 85% from the current 73%. We’re doing our best to reach the goal of cutting COD by 15%, or a total of 45,000 tons, by the year 2010 when we host the World Expo.

We have similar problems with sulfur dioxide, so we can only markedly improve the environment by stepping up efforts to cut sewage discharge. We’ll cut 26%, based on the amount of sulfur dioxide in 2005, and reduce the amount to 380,000 tons from 510,000 tons. The cut will the biggest in the country. We have specific measures to achieve the goal. One, we’ll require all coal-burning power plants to install desulfurizing equipment. Two, we’ll shut down small power generation units that are low in efficiency but high in pollutant discharge. Three, we’ll make sure power is generated by using highly efficient generation units and clean energy whenever possible. We’ll also use legal, economic, administrative, technological and other measures. Despite the pressure, we’re sure to reach the goal during the 11th Five-year Plan period with joint efforts from all sides, and breakthrough progress will be made in cutting the sewage discharge and improving the environment in Shanghai. As Mayor Han said, we’ll“leave no new loans while paying off the old debts gradually.”Thank you!

Chen Qiwei: The public is concerned on the use of the added value of the housing funds. By the end of the 2006, the aggregate added value of the housing funds topped 8.414 billion yuan. By following the Regulations on Management of Public Housing Fund issued by the State Council, the city withdrew a total of 2.360 billion yuan worth of supplementary fund allocated for construction of urban low-rent housing after deducting loan risk reserve fund and management cost. Of the withdrawn fund, 339 million yuan was used for renovation of dilapidated houses and subsidies to low-rent housing programs. A total of 2 billion yuan (one-fourth of the total amount spent nationwide on similar projects) was used this time for building a pool of low-rent houses, accounting for 98.96% of the available low-rent housing fund.

Since October when the city kicked off the work of building a pool of low-rent housing, two groups of contracts for low-rent houses with a total floor area of 150,000 square meters have been signed, and contracts involving another 350,000 square meters are expected to be sealed within this year.

The pool of low-rent housing features small homes, originally built for sale, each with a floor area of about 50 square meters. About 70% of the nearly 8,000 units of housing scheduled to be included into the pool are readily available in Zhoupu, Kangqiao, Pujiang, Gucun and Jiangqiao areas, which are located near subway lines under construction and planning.

The purchase prices, at 3,700-4,000 yuan per square meter, for these homes were listed in the contracts that won the bid.

Our next major tasks include decorating the houses according to the standards of low-rent homes, and managing the property rights and ownership rights while drafting policies on the use of the low-rent homes. The pilot programs will start in Xuhui and Changning districts.

2. SMG TV News Center: Thank you！I’m from SMG TV News Center. The first question goes to Mr Zhang. The city has attached great importance to reducing pollutants discharge. However, in recent years the number of motor vehicles has been rising, and it’s been a common sight that buses and trucks give off heavy smoke. Could you tell us what the city will do to control the pollution from motor vehicles and reduce the heavy smoke？Are there timeframes for the efforts? The second question goes to the government spokesman. The wining bid prices at the auctions of private car plates have been steadily rising in the past few months. Has it attracted due attention from relevant authorities? Do they have measures to tackle the problem?

Zhang Quan: It’s an important question. It’s been a long-standing problem that buses and diesel trucks give off heavy smoke. This should be blamed mainly on the quality of the Chinese-made heavy-duty vehicles. The overall quality and emission level of small cars made in China are almost the same as the world standards, however, the heavy-duty vehicles have quality problems. To tackle this problem, the city has taken corresponding measures. First, the city’s People’s Congress passed in October the revised version of the measures on the prevention and control of air pollution, which will go into force on January 1, 2008. The measures will serve as a legal basis for enforcing the rules on heavy smoke. Two, a joint law enforcement mechanism involving police was set up and will be operational starting January 1, 2008. Three, efforts were stepped up to adopt the international I/M system.“I”stands for inspection, which means to inspect a vehicle for problems; and“M”stands for maintenance. The inspection and maintenance form a cycle, that’s to say, a vehicle should be maintained immediately after a problem is discovered in the inspection, and it cannot run on the street until the problem is fixed. The distribution of the system in the city takes several years to finish. In the next two years, the focus of the fight on air pollution will be on the buses emitting heavy smoke, and we’ll try to solve the long-standing problem by the time the World Expo is held in the city.
Chen Qiwei: First, I’d like to tell you that this month’s auction of the private car plates will be held on December 22.

It has been more than 10 years since the city adopted the policy to control the number of the newly bought automobiles on the urban streets, and the policy has played an active role in alleviating traffic pressure on urban areas and saving energy and reducing pollutant emission.

Since the beginning of this year, the winning bid prices for the auction have been steadily increasing. It is said that the unreasonable high prices are partly blamed on some car dealers that collaborate to push up the prices to boost their sales. This has aroused close attention from authorities who have stepped up working on measures to better manage the auction, which are expected to be adopted at the beginning of next year. We hope that car buyers will bid in a rational and independent way, and the bidding system will also remind the bidders to do so during the auction. Authorities will crack down on the practice of pushing up prices and disrupting the market order.

While the city continues to control the number of automobiles in downtown, it will take into consideration the rising market demand for private cars. So the city will tilt the plate quota toward private cars and impose strict restrictions on the growth of corporate cars, especially those of government departments. In addition, because of the Spring Festival holidays, authorities will move the February auction forward to January and merge the two monthly auctions.

3. Jiefang Daily: I’m from Jiefang Daily. The first question is for Mr Zhang Quan, director of the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau. Shanghai is the country’s biggest consumer of coal, but it plans the biggest cut of sulfur dioxide discharge in China during the 11th Five-year Plan period. Could you tell us what measures the city has to ensure the goal is reached? The second question goes to the city government spokesman. The central bank and the banking regulatory commission have jointly issued the Supplementary Circular on Enhancing Management of Commercial Credits to Real Estate. How will it influence Shanghai’s real estate market?

Zhang Quan: It is a tough job to cut the discharge of sulfur dioxide because Shanghai is always a huge consumer of coal, at more than 52 million tons now. To reach the goal of cutting it by 26%, we have four measures. One, all the coal-burning generation units must have desulfurizing equipment. So far, 2 million kilowatts of generation units have the equipment, and the remaining 14 power plants with a total capacity of more than 7 million kilowatts are expected to carry out desulfurization in the next two years. Two, the structure is to be overhauled. Those big and efficient generation units will be promoted and those small-scale and low-efficiency generation units, involving about 2 million kilowatts in total, will be closed down. Three, those generation units having desulfurizing equipment and burning clean energy will be given a priority in generating power. It is a measure of epitomizing management. Four, a system of“verifying total amount and authorizing projects”will be adopted to prevent the consumption of coal from rising two fast. What’s more, law enforcement will be intensified. All power plants will be put under close monitoring, for example, it will be further monitored after desulfuring facilities are installed to ensure that the facilities are working properly. Of course we have other measures to ensure the 26% goal is reached, for example, a policy to“guide beforehand”followed up with strict law enforcement to“push it.”

Chen Qiwei: We’ve paid attention to the relevant policies the central bank and the banking regulatory commission jointly issued recently.

To better implement the Circular on Enhancing Management of Commercial Credits to Real Estate issued on September 27 by the central bank and the banking regulatory commission, the two agencies listened to suggestions by relevant authorities and some commercial banks and recently jointly issued the Supplementary Circular on Enhancing Management of Commercial Credits to Real Estate, which clarifies on the“tighten management of housing loans”mentioned in the former document. The Supplementary Circular makes it clear that the number of mortgages is based on the unit of a family (rather than a family member). This is another major step to set a common line for all commercial banks to follow and further control the housing loans, which helps implement macro-control policies on the real estate market and ensure a stable, healthy and sustainable growth of the real estate market.

The Circular issued in September raised the proportion of down payment and loan rate after the first mortgage. The market transactions (after the Circular was issued) showed that a wait-and-see attitude has begun to take hold. The commercial housing price index during the January-November period rose 2.8% year on year. Shanghai will carry out the state rules in an active way in the hope that the rules will play an active role in helping the local real estate market grow healthily and stably and prevent credit crisis. Its actual influence on the real estate market has yet to unfold.

4. China Business News: I’m from China Business News. My questions are for Mr Zhang. Shanghai has a huge market for environment protection business and has introduced world-leading companies to treat the local water environment. Could you tell us whether Shanghai will introduce more world-leading, large enterprises to join the city’s environment protection projects? The second question. I’ve learned that there aren’t enough landfill sites in Shanghai, and it is a trend that more and more sites are being built in urban areas instead of in the suburbs. Is it true? And how to solve the problem?

Zhang Quan: You are right in talking about the environment protection industry. The efforts to protect the environment will boost environment protection business, and as a matter of fact, only after laws are made and strictly implemented can there be a real market for environment protection business. There is a huge demand for environment protection business in the city during the 11th Five-year Plan period, as it will inject about 3% of its GDP into environment protection programs, including those for water, air and solid waste and for greenland. The city’s environment protection market is relatively open, attracting professional companies from home and abroad, including those private enterprises. The French company Veolia is an example. The extent of opening and level of standardization in the environment protection market in Shanghai are favorable to the growth of the sector. The factor of environment is also a factor of public security, and the market degree of the factor will decide the growth of the industry. Usually, only with intensifying monitoring from the government can the market open up gradually. Public security and opening up the market have to be coordinated. Generally speaking, the city has a huge market for environment protection businesses, and there will be greater opportunities to such enterprises in the next few years.

To treat solid waste, there are now several approaches, one is to landfill, two is incinerate and three to treat in a comprehensive way. The first one is relatively economical but needs much more land. With more funds available, better methods such as incineration and comprehensive treatment, as well as other methods that feature recyclable economy, have gained popularity. To begin with, Shanghai used the landfill method, such as the Laogang Town landfill. And now we’ve the Jiangqiao and Yuqiao incineration plants and a project featuring recyclable economy in Laogang Town. A certain amount of land has been reserved in Laogang, but the land, usable for 30-40 years, is so precious that we’ll use it in cautious and economical way.

5. Caijing Magazine: I’m from Caijing Magazine. Mr Zhang, you said just now that major projects in Shanghai will undergo environmental demonstration. What has your environment bureau done about the Maglev project? Could you tell us something about the research into the project, such as the environment protection demonstration, environment assessment and the investigation in Shanghai by the State Environmental Protection Administration? Environment assessment of the project should have involved participation by the public, however, many residents expected to relocate for the project know nothing about it. Have you thought about how to handle or improve it over the lack of public participation?

Zhang Quan: The Maglev project is a hot issue. The project’s two major impacts to the environment are from noise and magnetic radiation. Sufficient testing and demonstration have shown that its magnetic radiation is very small. Testing of the current Maglev shows that radiation in areas 3-5 meters away is well within the background level. The noise is loud when the train travels at a speed of above 200 kilometers (per hour). The noise problem can be solved by slowing down the train in downtown and accelerating in the suburbs. How to handle it? Firstly, the route is being epitomized to avoid going near as many residential buildings as possible. Secondly, better science popularization work is to be done. Citizens generally believe that the radiation is huge, but it actually is not so huge, and a scientific cognition is needed. As to approval of the project, authorities are epitomizing the route and then will make it clear to the public through communications. The project is subject to approval by the central government, and we’ll cooperate closely with the State Environmental Protection Administration to ensure a scientific assessment of environment and authorization of the project in line with laws. The project is still in the preliminary stage. Thank you!