The city's new leadership will concentrate on environmentally friendly economic development, residential issues and the battle against corruption, Shanghai's newly elected Party Secretary Xi Jinping said yesterday.

Han Zheng, mayor of Shanghai, and Yin Yicui were elected deputy secretaries of the Ninth Shanghai Committee of the Communist Party of China.

On behalf of the 13 newly elected Standing Committee members of the CPC Shanghai Committee, Xi outlined the plans of the leadership and introduced each member to journalists from home and abroad.

"We will be very devoted to the quality and speed of the city's development," Xi said immediately after the first plenary meeting of the Ninth Shanghai Committee of the CPC yesterday afternoon.

The plenary meeting followed the conclusion of the Ninth Shanghai Congress of the CPC - held every five years - which adopted the work report of the committee for the next five years and voted for new committee members.

That report highlights the importance of environmental protection while the city is also targeting rapid economic growth in its continuous opening-up policy.

Resolutions passed include:

The city will continue to reduce its overall energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product.

Concerted efforts will focus on a reduction in the discharge of major pollutants.

The government investment in environmental protection must be maintained at about three percent of GDP.

The report also pledged to solve various resident-related problems, such as improving medical services, providing cheap housing for the poor, expanding the social aid system and ensuring food safety.

"We will take the down-to-earth approach to solve residents' most concerned, practical and direct issues," said Xi, noting that a good leader should bring welfare to the people.

Xi vowed to take strict measures to combat corruption in the Party and to build up a clean, diligent and efficient work style. "We will keep strictly in line with the central committee of the Party and conscientiously uphold its authoritativeness," Xi told the media briefing.

"We must ensure the central government's policies and orders are smoothly enforced in Shanghai," he said.

Xi, 54, was appointed Shanghai Party secretary in the wake of a corruption scandal in March.

The city's former Party chief, Chen Liangyu, was removed from office last September for his alleged involvement in the Shanghai pension fund scandal.

Officials misappropriated 3.7 billion yuan (US$483 million) from the fund to invest in questionable real estate, road and other projects.

(Source: www.shanghai.gov.cn )