Third, we firmly implemented the people-centered development ideas and reached historical achievements in comprehensive poverty alleviation and the construction of a moderately prosperous society. We thoroughly implemented General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instruction to strive to improve people's living standards by fighting poverty and promoting shared development. We have always paid the most attention to the public sentiments that we believe are influenced by quality of life. Firstly, we gained full success in the fight against poverty and achieved remarkable results in building a moderately prosperous society. We insisted on the implementation of poverty alleviation work by Party chiefs at the province, prefecture, county, township, and village levels. We deepened efforts to push for poverty alleviation through boosting industrial development, increasing employment, investing in technologies, and relocating impoverished people to better environments. We set up a social assistance fund and perfected long-term mechanisms to prevent poverty from arising. All impoverished people and designated impoverished counties in the province have been lifted out of poverty. The province's poverty alleviation work has been graded as good in two categories in the national appraisal system for three consecutive years. Secondly, we made unprecedented efforts to secure and improve people's livelihoods, bringing practical benefits to the people. We ensured investment in people's livelihoods as a priority. Last year, spending on people's livelihoods grew 9.7%, accounting for 81.7% of the fiscal expenditure. We carried out 20 programs over four years regarding people's livelihoods. We renovated 6,311 old residential communities, 807,000 housing units in run-down areas, and 882 urban villages. We made efforts to address the "hollow village" issue involving 1,073 villages with vacancy rates reaching 50% and above. We integrated the study and education of the Party history with efforts made to conduct practical work to improve people's livelihoods in 10 aspects. We quickly promoted the construction of kindergartens in all administrative villages. We drew up plans to build rehabilitation therapy centers in every county. We provided free after-class, on-campus services for all primary school students in the province to take care of them after 3:30 p.m. All students in need have been taken care of. Thirdly, we coordinated regular prevention and control of the pandemic with the resolve to wipe it out. Last year, we innovated the initiation of three steps in epidemic prevention and control in advance, including an epidemiological investigation into suspicious cases, the medical examination of close contacts, and the issuance of notice for returnees from Hubei to register themselves within an hour so that they could undergo physical examination and centralized quarantine. We also innovated the daily dispatch system and took the lead in establishing 120 county-level nucleic acid laboratories. It took us only 37 days to achieve zero new local confirmed cases. In response to the sudden outbreak in Shijiazhuang and other places in January this year, we organized multiple rounds of nucleic acid tests for all people to clear all confirmed cases in a relatively short period. This effectively prevented the spread of the pandemic to Beijing and surrounding areas and effectively protected people's lives and health.
Fourth, we practiced the idea that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets and achieved important results in building a beautiful Hebei with blue sky, green land, and clear waters. We thoroughly implemented General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instruction to build a better, inhabitable environment in the process of pollution treatment and ecological restoration, with the resolve to win the battle against pollution. Firstly, we insisted on tackling pollution with stern measures that align with the law, and as a result, we started to see more and more blue sky and white clouds. We comprehensively implemented the CPC Central Committee's decisions and arrangements regarding peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. A total of 11.25 million households have been renovated to replace coal with gas and electricity as clean and safe heating sources in winter. A total of 13,2000 industrial enterprises were shut down or regulated for not complying with various development plans, for discharging waste against the law and regulations or over relevant standards, and for operating in violation of the law or regulations. Between 2015 and last year, the PM2.5 density lowered from 74 to 44.8 micrograms per cubic meter, down nearly 40%, and continued to decrease by 11.1% in the first five months this year. Secondly, we insisted on coordinating the treatment of drainage areas and made important progress in addressing the large groundwater depression cone in northern China. We steadily pushed forward with the treatment of murky and stinky waters, the renovation program for separating rainwater from sewage, and the treatment of garbage and sewage in rural areas. Approximately 66.2% of the 74 surface water sections under national monitoring have been graded as Class Ⅲ or above, and none were graded as below Class Ⅴ. The more than 30 million people living in the intake area along the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project have benefited. We took a mixture of measures that integrated water-saving, diversion, regulation, recharging, storage, and management to reduce the use of groundwater. The amount of over-exploited groundwater has been reduced by 4.35 billion cubic meters. The water tables of deep and shallow groundwater rose by 1.19 meters and 0.24 meters, respectively. More than two-thirds of the counties with overexploitation problems saw groundwater levels begin to rise. By 2022, the province will complete the tasks assigned by the central government to reach a balance between the mining and recharging of groundwater, 13 years ahead of the plan and outperforming the requirements. Thirdly, we insisted on the systematic restoration of the eco-environment and reinforced the ecological security barrier for the capital city of Beijing. We took an integrated approach to address problems caused by mining subsidence. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the forestation areas in the province increased from 31% to more than 35%. The Saihanba mechanized forest farm was awarded the Champion of the Earth award, the highest prize in environment protection issued by the United Nations. General Secretary Xi Jinping said that the development of the forest farm set a great example in China's pursuit of ecological progress. Since 2017, 1.81 million mu of farmland has been lain fallow for planting grass and 575 square kilometers of land have been treated for soil erosion in the Bashang region of Zhangjiakou, where the idyllic pastoral life is recovering quickly.
Hebei has attained achievements in all areas over the years. This is the result of the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core; the support from various sides, including the central government departments and other provincial-level regions; and the concerted efforts and hard work of the whole province. It epitomizes the remarkable advantages of the leadership of the Party and the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and fully demonstrates that Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is powerful, truthful and strong in practice. All Party members, cadres, and the general public in the province feel grateful to General Secretary Xi Jinping and the CPC Central Committee with their whole hearts. We firmly safeguard the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, which we have firm confidence in and loyalty to, and we will work together to better meet the requirements of the new era. This is all for now. Next, myself and comrade Xu Qin and Zhang Zheng will answer questions from the media.
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