SHENZHEN will introduce four new indices to evaluate government officials' performance in environmental protection last year.

The four indices will be introduced to 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.

"The new evaluation system will be introduced on a trial basis this year because we need to test the feasibility of the new indices and give the assessed some time to adjust to them," said Wang Suiming, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Shenzhen Municipal Committee, who is in charge of evaluations.

Wang said the new indices would help officials recognize the weak areas in their work and make improvements.

"All departments went neck and neck in the annual evaluation last year and the new indices are expected to set a higher standard for them," said Wang.

A 35-member panel will be in charge of conducting the evaluation. Panel members include deputies to the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress, local political advisers, environmental protection experts and representatives of local residents.

The evaluation, scheduled to be finished at the end of April, will focus on chief district leaders and heads of 10 city-level government agencies whose policies and work can have a direct impact on environmental protection.

Officials of State-owned enterprises, including Shenzhen Bus Group, Shenzhen Water Group and Shenzhen Energy Group, are among those being evaluated.

Officials will be required to give a 20-minute presentation on their successes and failures in environmental protection and corresponding solutions.

Following the presentation, officials will have to answer questions from the panel in a five-minute Q&A session.

Wang Yongjun, a panel expert, said that, according to the last evaluation, most districts gave insufficient budgets to environmental protection and progressed slowly in river treatment.

Ecological resource protection in Longgang and Bao'an districts lagged far behind, Wang said.

Shenzhen began evaluating officials on environmental protection performance in 2007 to improve awareness of the issues involved.

The mechanism has helped improve the city's environment greatly in the past two years, Wang Suiming said.

Source:Shenzhen Daily