(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-10-21 15:55

According to Zhuang Jian, senior economist of ADB's (Asian Development Bank) China Resident Mission, the interests of local governments sometimes went against central government's consideration, which was largely a result of the current financial system.

Zhuang said under the system, local governments only had power of administration but without authority to dispose of money allocated by the central government. Therefore, they could only rely on their own revenues and tended to rake in as more money as they could through local investment and GDP growth. The financial system should be reformed, Zhuang added.

Echoing Zhuang, many economists believed, not only the scientific outlook of development should be emphasized, but also corresponding institutional arrangements should be made.

"While helping local governments and officials establish value of performance in line with the strategy, the assessment mechanism of officials' performance should be put under control in a scientific way," said Zhou Tianyong, deputy head of the research office under the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC.

Zhou added that the general public should be authorized to participate in the assessment. To achieve this goal, political reform should be deepened, so to give ordinary people more power to supervise the government and companies.

However,  some role model local governments have performed well, particularly in energy and resources conservation, for example, southern China's Guangdong Province.

In the late 1990s, Guangdong began to accelerate industrial restructuring and put energy-efficient services and new and high- tech sectors high on its development agenda.

In the first half of 2006, the service sector accounted for approximately 60 percent of the province's total fixed assets investment.

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