In a recent reshuffle of the local government of Shanxi, Meng Xuenong, who resigned from the post of Beijing mayor for his government's mishandling of the SARS outbreak in 2003 and disappeared from the political stage, has resurfaced as chief administrative officer of this coal-rich province in north China.

Meng, 58, was appointed acting governor of Shanxi by the local legislature on September 3, replacing Yu Youjun.

Meng now presides over China's largest coal-producing region, whose output was 580 million tons last year, and a transitional economy that hopes to reduce its exploitation of natural resources.

In a speech after his appointment was approved, Meng listed his priorities as pushing forward Shanxi's economic and social development and building an efficient and clean government. He also pledged bigger efforts to optimize Shanxi's investment environment and accelerate the transformation of the local development mode to a resource- and environment-friendly one.

Meng is under pressure to continue his predecessor's efforts to repair Shanxi's tainted image after the exposure of a slave labor scandal in the province's unlicensed brick kilns, involving 359 victims. In the crackdown to slavery earlier this year, 60 criminals involved with this case were given prison terms and 95 officials were disciplined for dereliction of duty.

Thanks to the booming coal mining industry, since 2002 Shanxi's economy has maintained a strong momentum in the past five years, when its gross domestic product jumped from 29 billion yuan (about $3.49 billion) to 104.8 billion yuan (about $13.15 billion), leading the country in terms of the growth rate of fiscal revenues.

However, frequent safety accidents in mines and worsening pollution amid the rapid development of coal-related chemical enterprises are posing a big challenge to local leadership.

Meng was elected mayor of Beijing in January 2003 and resigned in April the same year. Between September 2003 and August 2007, he was deputy head of a committee under the State Council, China's cabinet, which oversees an ambitious project to divert water from the country's humid south to arid north. His election to the post of Shanxi governor is expected to take place at the full session of the local legislature later this year or in early 2008.