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List to encourage sustainable growth

By Sun Xiaohua (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-07-04 08:14

As for Ningxia's poor performance in energy saving, Zhou explained that the region's economic growth was highly dependant on heavy industries such as producing metals.

China's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) calls for overall consumption of energy per unit of GDP to be cut by 20 per cent in five years.

The current energy consumption per unit of GDP in China is about three times that of the United States and 10 times that of Japan, according to Zhang Jianyu, a visiting scholar at Tsinghua University.

"It is good to require provinces and industries to take part in this energy-saving drive," he said.

But he warned against fraud in the reporting of energy consumption by some regions.

A recent report on world energy resources by BP, one of the world's largest energy groups, said that although China has maintained a rapid rate of growth, its energy consumption growth rate has declined from 15.5 per cent in 2004 to 9.5 per cent in 2005.

To curb the growth of energy thirsty industries, the NDRC has decided to increase the price of electricity by an average of 0.025 yuan (0.3 US cent) per kilowatt-hour since last Friday.

The price adjustment, according to the NDRC, will not have a huge impact on household expenses.

"It will promote the development of renewable energy, fund more power grid projects and resolve the contradiction caused by rising coal prices," said a statement issued by the NDRC.