Various ministries launch 13th Five-Year Plans

Vehicles move slowly in a traffic jam on a street in Beijing, February 23, 2016. [Photo/IC]

China's Ministry of Transport released the 13th Five-year Plan for Urban Public Transport on Wednesday, outlining priorities for the nation's urban public transport development.

According to a report by chinanews.com, several ministries including the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce have announced their respective 13th Five-year Plans related to people’s livelihood.

Ministry of Transport: aiming to reduce traffic congestion

In the 13th Five-year Plan for Urban Public Transport, a traffic congestion charge will be explored and promoted at an appropriate time on the basis of traffic conditions. It also suggests a prudent attitude on adopting policies for vehicle purchases and use restrictions, to avoid the normalization of restriction policies.

Yang Chuantang, minister of transport, said during the two sessions this year that several countries have already introduced congestion taxes.

"Some provinces and cities have proposed and promoted congestion charges, and the decisions made by them are based on the actual local situations," he said.

However, in Beijing, a city which has a serious problem of frequent traffic jams, the possibility of bringing in a congestion charge has been met with vigorous debate. While opponents questioned a congestion charge’s effectiveness on reducing traffic jams and thought it might just increase individuals’ burdens, supporters believed reducing congestion needs to come from multiple solutions.

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security: raising basic pensions and adjusting basic salaries

A reasonable adjustment mechanism for basic pension insurance benefits covering all insured persons will be gradually established, according to the 13th Five-year Plan for Human Resources and Social Security Development released by Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

It emphasizes that the basic pension level for retired enterprise employees and urban and rural residents will be lifted to an appropriate range.

While the basic pension for pensioners from enterprises, government agencies and public institutions has been raised by 10 percent from 2014 to last year, reaching 2270 yuan ($339.9) monthly per capita, it was raised by 6.5 percent in 2016.

An official of human resources and social security said pension adjustments should protect retirees’ livelihood as well as consider affordability.

As pensions for enterprises, government agencies and public institutions employees started to merge last year, basic salaries for government agencies and public institutions employees also saw adjustments.

The basic salary level for employees from government agencies and public institutions were adjusted at the end of July, 2015, increasing 300 yuan monthly per capita in terms of a national average level.

In the 13th Five-year Plan for Human Resources and Social Security Development, a normal adjustment mechanism for the basic salary level of government agencies and public institutions will be implemented, including regularly adjusting the basic salary level and gradually improving a basic salary’s proportion to full wage.

Ministry of Civil Affairs: establishing an adjustment mechanism for subsistence allowance standards

Setting up the linkage between subsistence allowance standards and price increases, a dynamic adjustment mechanism for subsistence allowance standards will be established, according to the 13th Five-year Plan for Civil Affairs Development.

It will gradually raise the subsistence allowance standards in accordance with the level of economic and social development, to narrow the gap between standards for urban and rural residences and to ensure all the standards in rural areas are not lower than the national poverty alleviation line.