Shanghai has set its 2007 GDP growth target at above nine percent, the lowest target in 15 years, to aim for more balanced and sustainable economic and social development, Mayor Han Zheng said on Sunday.

"We have to turn from the traditional, quantity-centered mode of economic growth to a more rational, balanced and resource-efficient means of development," Han said in his work report to the municipal lawmakers' session.

The city needed to reduce energy consumption and safeguard the environment in its economic development and seek a balance between consumption, investment and export and between man and nature, he said.

"Shanghai cannot afford to seek economic development at the cost of its resources and environment," Han told Xinhua.

The city's spending on environment protection this year will be around three percent of its GDP, a goal spelt out in the government work report.

Meanwhile, Shanghai will slash energy consumption for every 10,000 yuan (US$1,282) of GDP by four percent from the 2006 level and cut emissions by two percent.

Following the central government's policy of building a "harmonious society", Shanghai authorities have vowed to keep the urban unemployment rate within 4.5 percent and consumer price rises below three percent.

Shanghai's economy has maintained two-digit growth for 15 years running. Last year, its GDP totaled 1.03 trillion yuan (US$132 billion), up 12 percent from 2005. Its energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP was reduced by four percent, according to the municipal bureau of statistics.

(Xinhua News Agency January 29, 2007)