A public hearing on a price increase for liquefied petroleum (LPG) in Guangzhou Tuesday attracted 30 members of the public, the Guangzhou Daily reported.

The hearing lasted four hours and the number of representatives attending created a record in the history of public hearings in the city since 1999. There were 590,000 LPG users in Guangzhou, the report said.

Three plans were unveiled earlier, with price increases of three, six and eight percent respectively, based on the current price of 2.2 yuan (US$0.27) for residential users, 2.6 yuan for institutional users and 3.2 yuan per cubic meters for business users.

The gas company had applied for the price increase, citing costs as the reason. It said the petroleum price, one of the important raw materials for LPG, had increased from 822 yuan a ton in 1995 when it began operations to 1,750 yuan this year.

Most representatives did not oppose price increase, the report said. But some questioned the gas company's operation, saying it did not disclose the use of more than 2 billion yuan collected from users in the name of initial equipment fee. Every user had to pay the fee when applying to use LPG through pipes, ranging from 700 yuan in 1995 to 3,500 yuan this year.

They said the average annual income for gas company employees, 34,010 yuan, was 70 percent higher than the average income of common enterprises in Guangzhou, or 19,975 yuan. They also said the increase may adversely affect poor people.

Some said the increase was reasonable, as the company needed to update its facilities to secure a safer operation and make ends meet.

Most agreed that the increase should be kept at a reasonable level.

The pricing authorities said the price plan would be readjusted after considering public opinion before being sent for the approval of the municipal government.

The formal plan would most likely be disclosed after Aug.1 this year, the price authorities said.

(Shenzhen Daily July 22, 2004)