The head of China operations for the World Bank has pledged his support for the government's efforts to build a harmonious society.

David Dollar, the bank's country director for China and Mongolia, called for renewed focus on the organization's important work on field projects now that its leadership crisis has been resolved.

After weeks of bitter confrontation and negotiation surrounding bank President Paul Wolfowitz's role in his girlfriend's pay rise, Wolfowitz last week announced he would step down by the end of next month.

"This issue has been a distraction," said Dollar in an interview with China Daily.

"Now that it is resolved and behind us, we can focus all our efforts on assisting developing countries with their considerable development challenges."

He called on people who are involved in or have been observing the bank's work in China to refocus their attention on its efforts to support the government's plan to build a harmonious society, which addresses key environmental and social issues.

Dollar also said the resolution of the Wolfowitz crisis showed that the bank is prepared to confront governance matters head-on within the institution in the same way it encourages client countries to do.

"While this process has been difficult, it shows in fact that the World Bank is serious when we talk about governance," he said.

The bank currently supports China's development with some 75 ongoing projects and US$1.5 billion a year in new lending.

The focus in recent years has been on innovative projects that bring new technologies or new approaches to addressing environmental and social issues, with a particular focus on western and Central China.

World Bank support in the Loess Plateau in western China has resulted in significant reforestation and a la rge growth in farmers' incomes.

In Xi'an the municipality and the bank are working on an innovative project to improve public transport, build bike lanes among the city's famous cultural sites and reduce air pollution.

In the more prosperous coastal regions the bank's work focuses primarily on environmental issues such as the cleanup of the Pearl River in Guangdong, wetlands protection in Hangzhou Bay and the desulfurization of power plants in Shandong.

(China Daily May 24, 2007)