VZCZCXRO5088
PP RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHCN #0320/01 3581143
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 241143Z DEC 09
FM AMCONSUL CHENGDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3659
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 4378

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENGDU 000320 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/CM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EIND ELTN EWWT ENRG SENV PGOV CH
SUBJECT: SW CHINA MAYOR DISCUSSES IMPACT OF EARTHQUAKE RECONSTRUCTION 
AND INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT; "GREENING" OF PARTY CADRES AND 
ECONOMY; CITIZEN PETITIONS 
 
REF: CHENGDU 310 
 
CHENGDU 00000320  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) This cable contains sensitive but unclassified 
information - not for distribution on the Internet. 
 
 
 
¶2. (SBU) Summary: Leshan Mayor Jiang Fuyi told Consul General 
December 8 that demand for construction materials for earthquake 
reconstruction boosted the city's GDP to seventh place among 
Sichuan cities.  Jiang said that fixed asset investment, 
including highway and river projects, will better integrate 
Leshan with Chengdu to the north, and a port city on the Yangtze 
River to the south.  Environmental protection is increasingly 
heavily weighted in officials' annual, point-based personnel 
evaluations.  To green itself, the city has been closing down 
smaller cement factories and coal mines.  Leshan plans to build 
a nuclear power plant. Jiang also said that he personally meets 
every Wednesday with petitioners who come to express grievances. 
 End Summary. 
 
 
 
Earthquake Reconstruction and 
 
Fixed Asset Investment Key to Rapid Growth 
 
------------------------------------------ 
 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) Mayor Jiang told CG December 8 that Leshan had the 
seventh highest GDP of any city in Sichuan, an accomplishment 
that he credited to demand for the city's products to rebuild 
areas damaged during the May 2008 earthquake.  The city is an 
important center for the production of construction materials, 
Jiang explained.  Leshan's GDP, which also includes the tourist 
city of Emeishan, reached about 8.1 billion USD last year and 
may increase about 15% to more than 9 billion USD in 2009. 
Jiang predicted more moderate growth after earthquake rebuilding 
ends. 
 
 
 
¶4. (SBU) Large fixed asset investment was another important 
factor contributing to Leshan's rapid economic growth.  Jiang 
noted that Leshan was investing 150 billion RMB (about 22 
billion USD) over an unspecified time-frame to improve 
transportation infrastructure including the Leshan-Yibin 
Expressway, the Min River (Minjiang) navigation and power 
development project (reftel), the Leshan-Chengdu-Mianyang 
Expressway, a rail line to Guizhou, and a highway to Ya'an. 
(Note: Total fixed asset investment in Leshan reached 3.7 
billion USD in 2008, a 25 percent annual increase, according to 
the 2009 Sichuan Statistical Yearbook.  End Note.) 
 
 
 
Environmental Protection Factored into New Cadre Evaluation 
System; Party/Management Education Required for Senior Officials 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------------- 
 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) Leadership at all levels of the Party and government 
need to treat environmental protection as a serious issue, said 
Jiang.  Success in environmental protection was a relatively new 
and increasingly heavily weighted factor in the point system 
used nationwide in annual, year-end evaluations of senior party 
cadres, Jiang noted.  A few years ago, environmental protection 
was not included in the point system at all, he explained. 
Jiang said that senior officials are required every five years 
to take a half-year-long educational course at the Central or 
Provincial Party School.  National-level policies -- including 
those related to environmental protection -- are taught at the 
Party schools.  China also runs administrative schools that 
train government officials in various management topics.  These 
shorter term courses, according to Jiang, typically last from 
one week to one month. 
 
 
 
Looking Forward to a Greener Future: Closure of Cement Plants, 
Coal Mines; Water and Waste Treatment; Nuclear Power Plant 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----------------- 
 
 
 
CHENGDU 00000320  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) Leshan seeks to become a more environmentally friendly 
city in part by improving manufacturing efficiency.  The mayor 
noted that 30 small cement plants -- big producers of 
green-house gases -- were closed this year.  The city also 
ordered the closure of small coal mines producing less than 
50,000 tons of coal annually.  Leshan has also added waste water 
treatment facilities.  The city of Leshan has three treatment 
plants, and each county under the city's jurisdiction has one 
plant.  Leshan has also built an unspecified number of garbage 
processing facilities.  (Note: Official statistics often broadly 
define Leshan as including four districts, six counties, and the 
city of Emeishan.  End Note.) 
 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) In response to CG's question, the mayor confirmed local 
press reports that said Leshan officials planned to build a 
nuclear power plant in the greater city area.  Jiang noted that 
the city had suitable locations near a river where the power 
plant could be constructed, but a "final decision" to move 
forward with a nuclear plant had not yet been made.  A press 
report that originally appeared in Chengdu's "Huaxi Dushibao" 
newspaper said that Leshan had signed in July 2009 a framework 
agreement with China National Nuclear Corporation for the 
planned construction a five gigawatt nuclear power plant for an 
estimated 12 billion USD.  (Note:  Leshan already has at least 
one nuclear reactor, although it is not a commercial power 
plant.  The Leshan Nuclear Power Institute of China currently 
operates a 125 megawatt High-Flux Engineering Test Reactor 
(HFETR) in Leshan's Jiajiang County.  In 2007, this reactor was 
converted from using highly-enriched uranium fuel to using 
low-enriched uranium, according to a report from the World 
Nuclear Association.  End Note.) 
 
 
 
Mayor Listens to Petitioners, Addresses Reasonable Requests 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Jiang said that governments from the community level 
all the way up to the national level had offices charged with 
managing the civil petition system, a system under which 
citizens can directly address grievances to government 
officials.  The mayor said that he personally met every 
Wednesday with petitioners to hear their grievances, although he 
conceded that on any given week there were generally only a 
couple of petitioners.  He said that even when petitioners 
raised issues that were not legal matters, he would still try to 
find a way to address them, if the requests were reasonable.  He 
did not provide any examples of requests. 
BROWN