Expansion of National Development and Reform Commission criticised

China's top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, is under fire after its functions were expanded rather than streamlined in a cabinet overhaul, while senior officials vowed it would gradually decentralise its powers of administrative approval.

Besides absorbing the population policy and planning functions of the former Population and Family Planning Commission, the NDRC tightened its regulatory grip on the power market, with the State Electricity Regulatory Commission to be folded into the National Energy Administration, an NDRC affiliate.

Aimed at improving the efficiency of the electricity sector and pricing reforms, the move consolidates the NDRC's control over the whole energy spectrum, including the electricity, oil, natural gas, nuclear and renewable energy sectors.

Such an outcome disappointed some economists, who said the latest cabinet restructuring had made the NDRC more like a mini State Council rather than reducing its meddling in the market, let alone breaking up the vested interests that obstruct radical reforms.

Besides drawing up macroeconomic policies, the commission is also responsible for industrial and regional planning and approving investment plans and single construction projects, among other functions.

One microblogger said the price-setting NDRC had done nothing during its decade-long history except for "raising prices, defending price increases and blocking reform".