Society

New traffic plan receives approval of majority

By Quan Li (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-12-22 17:04

Less than six percent of people opposed Beijing's new plan to deal with the traffic congestion, according to an official announcement on the website of Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport on Tuesday.

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The announcement said it had received 2,929 opinions through the Internet and 425 by mail and fax during the plan's seven-day public input period. About 94.2 percent of the opinions were constructive and made useful suggestions about various aspects of the draft plan.

Around 5.8 percent of the responses were negative and were against such things as proposed limits on ownership, new charges, and congestion fees.

Meanwhile, some experts raised doubts about the results of the investigation. Three thousand residents cannot reflect the opinions of the general public, as Beijing has more than 10 million people, said Wang Wenzhang, an associate professor of the social development research institute at Peking University. In addition to the Internet survey, he also suggested sending out questionnaires and face to face interviewing. The procedure should be legalized and broadly discussed. To make the plan democratic, there should be a balance of different interests, said Wang.