By Xinhua
Beijing : China Tuesday unveiled an institutional restructuring plan for setting up five “super ministries” and a ministerial-level energy commission to ensure greater efficiency in governance.
According to the plan to restructure the State Council, China will establish a national energy commission, an inter-ministerial consultation and coordination body, State Councillor Hua Jianmin told National People’s Congres (NPC), the country’s top legislature.
The proposed institutional restructuring, an important part of China’s overall plan to deepen reforms in its administrative system, is a continuation of the previous five major government reshuffles over the past 30 years, said Hua.
Under the plan, China will establish larger departments that organically integrate the functions of smaller departments, he said at the fourth plenary meeting of the First Session of the 11th National People’s Congress (NPC).
Hua said that the reshuffle will “rearrange, in a more rational manner, the functions of government departments that exercise macroeconomic regulation, strengthen energy and environmental agencies, integrate bodies in charge of industrial administration and information, form a transport ministry and enhance departments responsible for public administration and public services”.
Hua, who elaborated the reshuffle plan to the national legislators, said that China would create a state energy bureau, which will be under the jurisdiction of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
In a second major move, China plans to form a ministry of industry and information to integrate relevant functions of the NDRC, the Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defence, the Ministry of Information Industry and the State Council Informatization Office.
The planned restructuring will also include a consolidated ministry of transport, which will replace the current Ministry of Communications and the General Administration of Civil Aviation. Under the new ministry will be a new state civil aviation bureau as well as the State Post Bureau, previously under the Ministry of Information Industry.
The reshuffle includes the establishment of a ministry of human resources and social security, which will combine the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. A state bureau of civil servants will be formed under the new ministry.
The plan also includes the elevation of the State Environmental Protection Administration to the ministry of environmental protection.
A new ministry for housing and urban and rural construction will replace the Ministry of Construction.
The State Food and Drug Administration will be put under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health, giving the latter control over food and drug safety mechanism.
The reshuffle involves 15 government departments and reduces the number of cabinet ministries and commissions to 27 from the current 28, Hua said.