Following China's failure to achieve its annual energy consumption control
goals, the country's lawmakers are urging the government to set up a new
ministry to ensure the efficient and sustainable use of energy resources.
"China's energy supervision department is seriously understaffed. Without a
professional and strong administrative team, laws and regulations cannot be well
implemented," said Wang Weicheng, a deputy to the National People's Congress
(NPC), China' s top legislature, which will kick off its annual full session on
Monday.
China abolished the Ministry of Energy in 1993. Currently, energy control
falls in the power of the National Development and Reform Commission.
"Many countries, including the United States and Russia, have ministerial
level departments on energy resources. The U.S. Department of Energy even has
more than 10,000 staff members," said Wang, a heat energy engineering professor
with Qinghua University.
The professor said his suggestion has won support from more than 20 deputies
this year. "We hope that the government would further control energy consumption
and improve environmental assessment of large projects," he said.
Wang said his previous suggestions have received "positive" feedback from
relevant government departments and he hopes the suggestion will really make a
difference this year.
The Chinese government set an annual goal of reducing energy consumption per
unit GDP by 4 percent in 2006. But official statistics showed that the country's
energy consumption per 10,000 yuan (1,2-92 U.S. dollars) of GDP fell 1.23
percent to 1.21 tons of coal equivalent in 2006, failing to meet the projected
target.
