The government is duty-bound to regulate the real estate market and slow down the skyrocketing house prices, Shenzhen Mayor Xu Zongheng said to the press after the annual session of the city's legislature closed yesterday.

"We will add more land supply and build 6,000 low-rent apartments by the end of this year to relieve the housing problem of low-income families," Xu said at a press conference after the meeting of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress (MPC) closed.

"Since now we want home developers to make public house prices, their names, land use right expiry date and supporting facilities around the estate, which will help potential buyers to make the right choice and reduce their risk to be cheated," he said. "As a result, undesirable houses will have to be sold at lower prices."

Xu also highlighted issues concerning people's well-being such as food safety, pollution, employment and social insurance. The government will speed up construction of Metro projects and "appropriately" lower bus fares.

The city is facing mounting air pollution problems, as it had 164 hazy days last year, and the city's vehicle population had exceeded 1 million.

To relieve worsening air pollution and traffic jams, Shenzhen will collect a "congestion fee" from downtown areas some time in the future, the mayor said, without elaborating on the topic.

The five-day session elected a new MPC Standing Committee vice chairman and vice mayor.

Born in 1955 in Sichuan Province, Tang was previously director and Party chief of the Shenzhen Municipal Government Office and secretary general of the Shenzhen Municipal Government.

Li Ming, former Party secretary of Longgang District, was elected vice mayor of Shenzhen and Tang Jie, former secretary general of Shenzhen Municipal Government, was elected vice chairman of the MPC Standing Committee.

Born in 1955, Li, a native of Shaanxi Province, was elected secretary of Longgang District Committee of the CPC in 2005 and chairman of the district people's congress in October 2006.

Longgang is the venue of the 2011 World Universiade.

(Shenzhen Daily March 26, 2007)