Decisions about construction of livelihood projects in all cities and counties in East China's Zhejiang province have been adopted via voting at local people’s congress sessions since the beginning of this year, giving the rights of making decisions to the people themselves, Yu Hongyi, chairman of the Ningbo people’s congress standing committee said on the sidelines of the ongoing first session of 13th National People’s Congress on Sunday.

As introduced by Yu, the livelihood projects were initiated and chosen by the government after reviewing public opinions. Starting this year, those projects must be adopted by the local people’s congress before being put into action.

In September, the Ningbo bureau of statistics took a poll among citizens regarding suggestions on livelihood projects. Questionnaires also were distributed through the media, including newspapers, TV and the internet. About 180 suggestions were received and 13 candidate projects were selected and put to a vote at the NIngbo people’s congress in January, according to the government's website.

Those projects include sewage discharge, food safety sampling inspection, preschool education expansion and upgrades, shanty town renovation, tourism toilet improvement, nursing home construction, mass sports, family doctor service and farmers’ markets.

“The process of projects’ implementation is supervised by the local people’s congress, which also assesses the results. It means that people are not only benefiting from these projects, but also are participating in and supervising them,” Yu said.

“The change in the field of government decision making from ’for the people’ to ‘by the people’ means a leap forward in grassroots democracy,” she added.

“Such a voting system was first started in two counties - Liyang and Dajiahe - in Ningbo city in 2008. Every year, the government proposes projects after seeking advice from the public. Then deputies to the local people’s congress vote and then only those adopted projects will be carried out,” Yu said.

Yu said feedback on the pilot programs in the two townships turned out to be good, and the model is now being followed by all city level and county level governments.

“The voting system motivates the public and helps the government’s investment to go to more targeted programs,” Yu added.