Research Of Shanghai City Appearance And Sanitation Management Reform

In the past 10 years, in order to accommodate the requirements of large-scale development in Shanghai, Shanghai city appearance and sanitation management, as an important part of Shanghai's urban management, has been trying to operate based on market needs, transform itself to market-oriented enterprises. In terms of governmental organizational reform, Shanghai Municipality closed Shanghai Municipal Administration Committee and Shanghai Municipal Administration of Environment and Sanitation, and in the meantime, established Shanghai Municipal Administration Bureau of city appearance and Sanitation, expanding its focus from administration on city sanitation to appearance of the entire city. From market perspective, all Shanghai city sanitation preservation units which used to be government agencies were transformed to profit oriented units. However the reform has brought about no fundamental improvement in terms of administrative efficiency or responsiveness to market. On one hand, the Bureau is still not given the appropriate executive power to fulfill the responsibilities it is assigned with, which keeps the efficiency of Bureau operation low in many aspects and especially so when it comes to responding to public needs and complaints. One the other hand, the actual management at various levels within the Bureau inherited the"government agency"type of habit and is not following the practice of a market oriented organization, an example of which can be taken from the supply of sanitation preservation utensils and equipment. For the reform to bring forth real improvement of Bureau operation, further steps need to be taken in management restructuring.This thesis suggests that new public management principles should be used in the management of the Bureau. Under the principles of new public management, public services are no longer welfare but products that has their market needs and supplies that are no different from commercial products and that should be managed and provided by organizations more than just the government in the way commercial enterprises are operated to improve the efficiency of various public services on a sustainable basis. Under such principles, the Bureau should distinguish its traditional role to"govern"from its role to"service"the public and hence make an effort to improve the quality of its services to the public. The Bureau is suggested to start building the economy of the market for public environmental and sanitation preservation services from now on and rely on market demand and supply principles to grow this industry. In addition to the government, domestic and foreign commercial organizations should be allowed to this market. The policy making procedure related to this industry should be open to the public and the various players in the market to ensure fair competition among the players.