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Connected Government, Local Government, Policy

Chinese Municipal Government undergoes radical restructuring

By Jianggan Li | 8 May 2009

In Tianjin, one of the four province-level municipalities of China, ceremonies are held this week to inaugurate a few new government agencies.

This marks the actual implementation of the structural reform of the Municipal Government. The aim of the reform is to streamline policy making and execution, which have been difficult due to overlapping responsibilities of different agencies and departments.

“In principle, there will be only one department in charge of a specific policy area after the reform,” says a spokesperson from the Municipal Government.

For example, a new Bureau of Water Resources has been established to govern all the water related issues. Previously they were under the purview of three different agencies, which looked after water supply, drainage and river management respectively.

Similarly, the Agricultural Commission has absorbed Bureau of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Bureau, Bureau of Aquatic Products as well as Authority of Agricultural Machinery. Now all the agricultural issues are under the purview of the Commission.

And the Municipal Food and Drug Administration has been transferred from directly under the Municipal Government to become a department under the Bureau of Health, which streamlines the management of food safety and response to related emergencies.

A Municipal Government spokesperson said the reform was tailored according to the actual situations and long term needs of the municipality, which is the sixth largest city in China with a population of 12 million.

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