Extra funding is to be provided to encourage people who live in
places where development is forbidden to migrate to urban areas, in
a bid to preserve China's countryside.
Nature reserves, World Heritage Sites, national scenery
attractions and forest parks will be listed as "forbidden zones"
where residential and industrial development will not be allowed
under the new national land-planning program.
Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan said the central government would
provide more money to help people in those regions migrate to
places where industrialization and urbanization are allowed.
The extra cash comes as the government draws "red lines" across
rural land, ruling out development to ensure grain security for
future generations.
After the national blueprint has been drawn up, provincial
governments will be given more freedom to plan their own
development projects, provided they run in accordance with the
national plan.
The central government will have finished defining the regions
and what they can be used for by the end of the year, said
Zeng.
"The purpose of this plan is to keep check on the rampant spread
of industrialization and ensure development only takes place in
certain regions," Zeng told a national televised conference
attended by dozens of Cabinet ministers and provincial governors on
Monday.
The land will be divided into four kinds of regions - those
where urbanization is "prioritized", "encouraged", "limited" and
"forbidden", said Ma Kai, minister of the National Development and
Reform Commission.
For example, high-tech projects and service sector industries
should be priorities in coastal areas.
While manufacturing bases and agriculture should be encouraged
in the central regions, northeast China and some parts of western
China.
Ma said the plan was aimed at promoting the nation's sustainable
development, which is expected to be high on the agenda at the 17th
Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress next month.
In an interview with China Daily on Monday, Pan Yue,
vice-minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration,
called the land-planning program "a landmark" in China's efforts to
achieve sustainable development and build a resource-saving
society.
"We have waited for a plan like this for ages," said Pan.
(China Daily September 25, 2007)