'We will rigorously implement the central government's call to control as strictly as possible the supply of credit and land,' Mr Huang said in his work report to the Guangdong People's Congress.

'We must shift from extensive economic development to intensive development, and from an emphasis on high growth to co-ordinated and sustainable development.'

Mr Huang said the provincial government would put the brakes on the development of middle- to high-end residential property, government offices and training centres, golf courses, convention and exhibition centres, shopping malls and logistics parks.

Other targets for this year include setting up a coastal petrochemical belt that includes Guangzhou, Huizhou, Zhuhai, Maoming and Zhanjiang, and a machinery manufacturing region centred around Guangzhou, Foshan and Shenzhen.

Mr Huang said last year's macroeconomic control measures had helped slow the province's fixed-asset investment growth to 19.9 per cent for the whole year, compared to 40.2 per cent for the first quarter.

They also helped cut the number of development zones to 102 from 400, and reduce planned land use to 100,200 hectares from 340,000.

Delegate Lewis Luk Tei said the growth target was 'not necessarily too low because we have to balance macroeconomic controls and resources bottlenecks'.

'The report brought this up very clearly - that the economy is developing too fast and has to slow down. But I believe actual growth will be faster than projected,' he said.

In the 42-page report covering a wide range of issues, Mr Huang acknowledged the increase in social unrest last year, saying an alert system would be set up to respond quickly to disturbances.

He made general statements about the need for better efforts to cut the crime rate, but was more specific about anti-terrorism efforts.

The government is believed to be concerned about the possible infiltration of terrorist elements within the growing Arab population in the province, especially in Guangzhou.

Li Jihui, a People's Congress delegate from Yangjiang, said the crime rate was high in his city, which depends heavily on tourism.

'It's an issue that we raised last year. We decided not to bring it up again this year, though the problem still exists, but we hope that the government will work on unresolved issues,' he said.

Regarding the energy shortage, Huizhou delegate Ye Dongqiang gave the government credit for alleviating the problem last year by buying power from Hong Kong, Guizhou and Guangxi , and implementing rationing and off-peak production schedules.