Question is not big or small, but efficiency

State Environment Protection Administration (SEPA) Vice-Minister Pan Yue knows best the embarrassment and difficulties associated with his and his subordinates' job. He knows, too, the reason for that: SEPA's weak position in the government hierarchy.

SEPA is not one of the 28 ministries directly under the State Council, the country's cabinet. Hence, it can't take part in the direct decision-making process. And local officials who pay scant regard to the environment in their rush to achieve speedy economic growth exploit that weakness.

But that no longer will be the case, thanks to the plan to restructure and merge some of the ministries that the National People's Congress (NPC) discussed at its annual session yesterday. Among the proposals is one to make SEPA a full-fledged ministry, granting it the authority to be part of major decisions. "The move is consistent with the central government's efforts to enforce its anti-pollution regulations and to pressure heavy industries further into complying or closing down," says professor of the Party School of CPC Central Committee Zhou Tianyong.