Environment

Draft plan open for comments

A proposed regulation controlling air pollution, which targets vehicles, factories and outdoor barbecues, includes hefty fines on those who break the rules. Environmental protection officials expect the policy to help reduce the smog that has enveloped Beijing in recent weeks.

Feng Yongfeng, founder of Green Beagle, a Beijing-based environmental protection NGO, feels that the proposed regulation is a step in the right direction. It is more transparent than the legislation introduced in 2000 and focuses more on public concerns.

The draft, which is open for comments until Feb 8, requires authorities to forecast pollution levels, and take firm action, including suspending production at factories and ordering vehicles off the city's roads. Rule-breakers will face fines ranging from 50,000 yuan ($8,040; 6040 euros) to 500,000 yuan.

Feng said the draft strengthens guidance and supervision, while increasing penalties for bad behavior. But for larger polluting companies, a penalty of 50,000 yuan simply will not contain their illegal behavior, as the cost of abiding by the law is much higher than breaking it, Feng said.

Finance

New tool to measure local debt

Chinese rating agency Dagong Global Credit Rating said it has come out with a new ratings system to evaluate the credit status of local governments and gauge their debt repayment capabilities. The new rating system, unveiled by Dagong in Beijing on Jan 21, evaluates local government debt by using a method that is different from the one used by Western ratings agencies, said Guan Jianzhong, president of Dagong.

The global financial crisis has caught many institutions in the West off guard, and the new Dagong rating system will help gauge their ability to repay debt and not just the debt itself.

Local governments, barred from directly selling bonds or taking bank loans, have set up more than 6,500 companies, known as financing vehicles, to raise money for projects.

Transport

Software helps in buying tickets

Software companies have denied reports of a government ban on Web browsers that allow users to cut ahead of others when buying train tickets online. Software providers Beijing Kingsoft Software and Qihoo 360 both continued to have the controversial programs available for download.

The browsers have add-ons designed to help people buy seats at 12306.cn, the Railways Ministry's official ticketing website, and have been popular as the Spring Festival travel rush looms.

However, critics say the software gives some people an unfair advantage, and media reports suggested officials were considering a ban.

Development

Land use to be monitored

China's land watchdog has said it will work to prevent abuses of land rights, as the demand for space is expected to surge this year.

As suggested in the report during the Party's 18th National Congress, urbanization and industrialization plans will mean more land is needed in China, Yue Xiaowu, deputy director of law enforcement and supervision at the Ministry of Land and Resources, said on Jan 22.

This year's land supply plan has not been released yet, but Yue said the amount would increase dramatically, posing challenges to the protection of China's fragile arable areas. The soaring cost of property has magnified the incentives for developers and officials to grab land for new projects in suburbs and rural areas, he said.

China Daily

(China Daily 01/25/2013 page2)