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HEALTH WORRIES: Angry Shanghai residents, with a child in tow, protesting against the proposed extension of the city's magnetic levitation train which they say poses risks to their health. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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SHANGHAI - SHANGHAI'S mayor has vowed to clean up the 'negative image' of China's biggest city and to forestall protests by defusing tensions over construction projects and other issues.
Police yesterday escorted away a few would-be protesters standing near the tight security cordon around the Shanghai Exhibition Centre, where local lawmakers were gathered for their annual session.
'We will pro-actively forestall and appropriately defuse social tensions,' Mr Han Zheng told the lawmakers, without directly referring to recent protests by hundreds of city residents against a proposed extension of the city's showcase magnetic levitation train line.
'We will take measures to prevent, reduce and appropriately handle crowd incidents to minimise their detrimental impact on social harmony,' he said, promising to ensure that issues raised by the public were dealt with 'promptly and properly'.
Mr Han said his government would improve communications with the public before making decisions on key projects.
'We will improve our systems of public opinion surveys, public notification and public hearings and make sure that citizens are effectively involved,' he said.
The unusually bold protests against having the train run through the city to the Hongqiao Airport in its western suburbs drew a rare government acknowledgment of public concern. But the authorities have not yet indicated if the multibillion-dollar project will still go ahead despite protesters' concern about health risks.
Mr Han said Shanghai was still working to mend the damage to its reputation from a massive corruption scandal that toppled the city's top Communist Party official, Chen Liangyu, and other top city officials and businessmen.
The alleged abuses committed by Chen, who is awaiting trial for allegedly misusing city pension funds, and others 'had extremely serious consequences, caused enormous damage and left us with grave lessons to ponder', he said.
'They have brought the party and the nation into disrepute and projected a very negative image of Shanghai's efforts for reform and development,' he added.
The scandal, which erupted last July, was over the siphoning of 3.7 billion yuan (S$730 million) from Shanghai's retirement funds into speculative real estate and road investment projects.
It led to a major reshuffle in Shanghai's political hierarchy, reflecting apparent efforts by President Hu Jintao to rid the city of the powerful 'Shanghai Gang' - consisting of politicians loyal to former president Jiang Zemin - such as Chen.
Outlining the city's economic plans, Mr Han said Shanghai, a commercial and industrial hub of more than 20 million, intends to rely increasingly on its financial industries and other services which now account for about half of its business activity.
He projected that the city's gross domestic product would jump to two trillion yuan by 2012, from 1.2 trillion yuan last year.
Shanghai's economy expanded at an annual rate of 12.6 per cent over the past five years, with exports more than tripling to US$143.9 billion (S$205 billion) last year, Mr Han said.
But he added that the government faced a number of 'inadequacies and weaknesses', including an underdeveloped service sector, economic bottlenecks and a widening wealth gap between the rich and poor.
Mr Yu Zhengsheng was appointed Shanghai's party boss in October after Chen was ousted.
Analysts say Mr Han is likely to be replaced when the local congress announces a leadership shuffle on Monday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
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