The Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress -- the capital city's top legislative body -- Tuesday appointed a director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Water Affairs.

The move marked an important step in the city's efforts to integrate supervision functions over water resources.

Jiao Zhizhong, former director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Water Resources, won the vote among standing committee members Tuesday.

The Beijing municipal government decided last month to abolish the water resources bureau and establish the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Water Affairs.

All of the functions of the former water resources bureau will be transferred to the newly established water affairs bureau, the local government said in a notice.

Meanwhile, supervision of the water supply, water saving, waste water treatment, as well as using and protecting underground water in Beijing, which were previously shouldered by the Beijing Municipal Urban Administrative Committee, will also be transferred to the new government organization.

Beijing has vowed to build itself into a water-saving city as it faces crucial water conditions in the sixth year of a drought.

Also Tuesday, the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress appointed Ji Lin vice-mayor of the capital city.

The Beijing municipal government has had eight vice-mayors to assist Mayor Wang Qishan.

Ji Lin was former Party secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of Politics and Law.

The Beijing Municipal People's Congress Tuesday abandoned two local regulations on management over the city's construction and entertainment markets.

"Some prescriptions in the Beijing Municipal Construction Market Management Regulation do not accord with China's promises to the World Trade Organization," Zhou Jidong, director of the Beijing Municipal Legal Affairs Office, said Tuesday.

According to the abandoned regulation, overseas construction enterprises needed to ask permission from local authorities before entering into the Beijing market.

"It is also against the Law on Administrative Licensing, which will go effective in July," Zhou said.

The Beijing Municipal Cultural and Entertainment Market Management Regulation does not follow the national regulation on supervision of the entertainment market issued by the State Council.

The national regulation says that industry and commerce authorities are responsible for supervising entertainment companies while the previous local rules said local cultural or public security department had to do that job, sources said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2004)