Sixteen government officials had their environmental protection efforts for 2009 evaluated Wednesday (Aug 11).
The candidates included chief district leaders and heads of 10 city government agencies whose policies and work had a direct impact on environmental protection, the Shenzhen Evening News reported Thursday.
Besides a written report, each official delivered a 20-minute presentation on their successes and failures in environmental protection and corresponding solutions. They then answered questions from a 35-member panel composed of lawmakers, political advisers, environmental protection experts and local residents.
"As the home to the main venues of the 2011 Universiade, Longgang District will step up efforts to close heavy-polluting enterprises with high-energy consumption. We plan to close 1,200 such enterprises this year and 2,000 next year," said Zhang Bei, the district chief.
Lu Ruifeng, the city's executive vice mayor, said the evaluation of officials' performance in environmental protection could be an important reference for promotion.
Shenzhen began evaluating officials on their environmental protection performance in 2007.
The city government introduced four new indices for the evaluation in March.
The four indices reflect officials' performance in protecting ecological resources, GDP energy consumption, pollution control projects and results of field inspections.
Other existing indices include air quality, river pollution control, exhaust emission reduction, environmental protection budgeting and public satisfaction with law enforcement.
(By Wang Peipei)