Government expands suggestions initiative

For eight years, the Shanghai government has been collecting all kinds of suggestions from the public, an effort that is to be expanded.

The local government said on Friday that people will have more ways to file suggestions in the future with the establishment of an office for public suggestions..

Currently, people can file them online, by writing letters to the government, visiting in person or calling the city’s 12345 hotline. 

Wang Jianhua, director of the new office, said people will also be able to file suggestions by contacting residential committees, asking community officials and volunteers to relay their suggestions if they are not able to file them in person, and by taking part in public hearings at the government.

“Anyone who is in Shanghai even for a day is welcome to let us know what they can suggest to make the city a better place,” he said.

In the past eight years, the government has handled over 300,000 suggestions from the public, and in recent times 97 percent were adopted by the government, compared with 58 percent at the beginning.

The largest number of suggestions, 27 percent, were related to urban and rural development, while 14 percent were related to transport, 12 percent to public health, 10 percent to education and culture, and 9 percent to environmental protection.

Key probems identified

Wang said the government ensures that all suggestions go to the relevant departments.

The “more solid” ones among them, with key problems identified, detailed analysis included and feasible solutions provided, are further dealth with in consultations with government departments, experts and the people who filed them, and field studies of the issues raised.

“Through this effort, we brainstorm for better solutions for the problems because many issues can only be solved by coordinating different government departments and balancing needs from the public,” Wang said.

Wang has a team of around 20 people to handle suggestions.

Yu Guowei, a 60-year-old resident in Minhang District, has filed 50 suggestions to the government since 2012. He said they had been dealt with efficiently. 

“I filed a suggestion last month about retaining community officials by offering them clearer career paths and higher salaries, and got a reply from the social security and human resources bureau only four days later,” he said.

Chen Huizhi / SHINE

Foreigners can file suggestions with their mobile phone by logging on to file suggestions at http://mxf.sh.gov.cn/wechat/security/ and registering with their passport number. The interface is in Chinese. Or by calling the 12345 hotline between 8am and 8pm. It has operators who can speak English, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Italian and Persian.