Housing Price
The premier vowed to control the overheated property sector and keep housing price at a reasonable level.
"The real estate industry should focus on developing reasonably priced commercial housing for ordinary people," Wen said in a report on the work of the government at the opening meeting of the annual session of the National People's Congress, or parliament.
"We will improve the supply structure of commercial housing, and strengthen oversight and regulation of housing prices," he said.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the average price of the newly-built commercial residential buildings in 70 big and medium-sized cities nationwide rose 6.1 percent year on year in January, with that in Beijing climbing 9.9 percent.
The Ministry of Construction stipulated last year that the floor area of 70 percent of the newly-built commercial residential flats should below 90 square meters each in a bid to ensure more affordable housing for average citizens.
Wen said the government will pay particular attention to addressing the housing problems of low-income families. "We will increase fiscal and tax policy support and set up a sound system of low-rent housing," he said.
He noted that China will strengthen oversight over the real estate sector and crack down on law-violating activities in the property development and sales.
"Local governments must assume their full share of responsibility for the regulation and oversight of local property markets," Wen said.
The premier also said the government will keep consumption at an appropriate level and build environmentally friendly buildings as the country has a large population and relatively little land available for housing building.
Energy saving, pollution control
Wen vowed that the government will meet the energy saving and pollution control targets between 2006 and 2010 despite last year's setback.
The Chinese government set the goal of reducing energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 20 percent and major pollutants discharge by 10 percent in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan.
China's energy consumption per unit of GDP in 2006 went down 1.2 percent, and oxygen chemical demand and sulfur dioxide emission rose 1.2 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively, said Wen.
He said the country fell short of the targets set at the beginning of last year for cutting energy consumption per unit of GDP by four percent and discharge of major pollutants by two percent.
"The targets can't be revised and we must work resolutely to reach them," Wen said.
He noted that the State Council, or cabinet, will make annual reports on the progress made in saving energy and reducing major pollutants discharge to the NPC starting this year, and report on the overall progress made over the past five years at the end of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period.
He blamed slow industrial restructuring and over-heated growth of the heavy industry, especially the highly energy-consuming and polluting sectors, for failure to attain the two goals.
"Lots of outdated production facilities are still in operation. Meanwhile, some local governments and companies failed to strictly comply with laws, regulations and standards on energy saving and environmental protection," Wen said.
