By staff reporter Li Qiyan

The State Council is expected to continue shrinking its directly affiliated bureaucracy by transferring offices that lead development of the country’s western and northeastern regions to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

The move would follow an earlier decision by the State Council, China’s cabinet, to shift energy responsibilities from another office under its direct control to a new energy bureau overseen by the increasingly powerful NDRC.

NDRC sources confirmed to Caijing that their agency would annex the regional development offices.

Separate offices for supervising the development of China’s emerging west and northeast “rust belt” were established in 2000 and 2003, respectively. Their tasks have included drafting and enforcing development strategies, writing regulations, adjusting industrial policy and overseeing environmental protection -- all with State Council oversight.

The transfer plan surfaced as a public spotlight focused on the newly appointed head of NDRC, Zhang Ping, who has attracted attention for the agency’s increasing influence as well as his reputation as a pragmatic, low-key administrator with extensive work experience. Unlike other top officials in Beijing with prestigious graduate school degrees, Zhang studied banking at an Anhui Province trade school.