What ministers say
Six million substandard urban houses will be rebuilt this year. China is able to meet the target because this year’s tasks are better defined and we started earlier with stronger financial support. The government will offer more financial support to those who live in substandard urban houses to purchase existing homes rather than building new property, especially in third- and fourth-tier cities and counties. Chen Zhenggao, minister of housing and urban-rural development rainfall and northern parts facing greater chances of drought, and the possibility of more typhoons. With increasing global warming, China was hit by severe meteorological disasters, including major hailstorms last year, and the overall situation in 2017 will also be severe. Liu Yaming, director of China Meteorological Administration We have been alert to soccer clubs’ excessive spending on foreign players and have issued a series of measures. We will look into it seriously and take further action to bring rational thinking back to the market. It’s a tough issue that has drawn a lot of attention, and the sports body has been looking into it very seriously. The reason for those overpriced signings of foreigners is because some cash-rich club investors made the decisions imprudently for business reasons, not for the development of the game. Gou Zhongwen, director of the General Administration of Sport of China The management of electric tricycles has been a pressing issue for the development of the courier service sector. We will accelerate the implementation of national standards and local regulations on tricycle production and management to guarantee safety in traffic. An average worker delivers 80 to 100 packages, which altogether weigh about 150 kg, every day, so an electric tricycle is the proper carrier. In 2016, the postal authority in Beijing required 57,000 courier tricycles to run with unified logos and insurance under a safety regulation. Hopefully, the approach could be promoted and adopted in more cities. Ma Junsheng, head of the State Post Bureau The government plans to rehabilitate the environment in 85 square kilometers of coastal wetlands and to improve the ecology in 66 bays and 50 islands before the end of 2020. The nation’s overall marine environment is getting better. There were 227,000 sq km of clean seas in 2016, up 15,000 sq km from 2015. However, there were 37,000 sq km that remained severely polluted last year. Fang Jianmeng, deputy director of the State Oceanic Administration