Xu Hongyuan, a leading researcher at the State Information Center, a government think tank, made the forecast amid warnings that the government must get serious about controlling the mad pace of economic growth.

"Whatever has been done so far is not enough," said HSBC economist Qu Hongbin. "If they want to avoid a hard landing, they've got to take tough measures now before it's too late."

Xu, who also expected full-year growth of nine percent, made the prediction after a slew of government statistics showed very brisk economic activity in the first three months.

China's industrial output rose nearly 18 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, while imports surged 42 percent in the same period.

Against the backdrop of such figures, independent economists agreed growth in the first quarter of this year would be close to the 9.9 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of last year.

"It will be beyond nine (percent)," said Merrill Lynch economist Marvin Wong. "It's not slowing down."

The momentum is likely to be maintained in the second quarter, with growth topping 10 percent, Xu said, adding that in the second half, the economy should slow to eight percent.

The Chinese government is scheduled to release official economic data for the first quarter at a briefing Thursday and the figures could be pivotal in determinining economic policies in the months ahead.

A vigorous ongoing debate within the government, and among independent economists, about the health of China's growth is rapidly moving towards endgame, analysts said.

The discussion is fueled by figures such as a breath-taking 53 percent rise in fixed-asset investment in the fist two months of the year.

"For anyone in policy-making circles who hasn't woken up to the risk of over-investment, this should ring alarm bells," said HSBC's Qu.

Although the government is continuing to tread softly, mindful of the impact of blunt tools such as an interest rate hike, it is at the same time stepping up its measures to tame the runaway growth rates.

On Sunday, the central bank announced that it was raising the minimum amount of deposits required to be held as reserves in the banking system to 7.5 percent from 7.0 percent.

Central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said in a speech published Tuesday that this should help stabilize the markets, even as he noted that monetary conditions are galloping past official targets.

"Money supply growth to date this year is too fast ... loan growth is so fast that the actual growth rate was 10 percentage points higher than forecast," he said.

Alarmed at the role played by funds pouring into the property markets of Shanghai and Beijing, Morgan Stanley Asia economist Andy Xie is already warning clients of the risks of a hard landing.

"The current high prices of property and commodities are artificial," he cautioned. "When the bubble bursts, there would be horrific financial losses from the current investments."