Reforms aimed at boosting role of watchdogs

China will strengthen environmental monitoring and law enforcement bureaus at the city and county levels this year to make them powerful, independent supervisory bodies, a top official said.

Although the process will be difficult, reform is essential if the country is to build a modern environmental administration system and improve efficiency, said Ren Yong, head of the personnel and administration systems division at the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The ministry has set up a special team to lead the drafting process and supervise pilot programs in a number of provinces this year. The reforms will later be expanded to cover the whole country, with the program set to be completed by 2020.