Govt aims to restore Qinling natural areas
BEIJING: Authorities in Shaanxi province have launched a campaign to restore natural areas in six cities at the foot of the Qinling Mountains, according to a local government statement.
Priority would be given to Xi’an, the provincial capital, said the statement released on Thursday.
Other cities involved are Shangluo, Ankang, Hanzhong, Baoji and Weinan.
Xi’an has demolished more than 1,000 illegal luxury villas since July last year at the northern foot of Qinling, a natural boundary between China’s north and south and home to a huge variety of plant and animal life.
The latest move aims to strengthen the achievements of the demolition campaign and conservation of Qinling’s environment, the statement added.
Those involved in enforcement include the province’s departments of natural resources, environment and ecology, housing and construction, water resources, forestry administration and the Qinling office of the province’s development and reform commission. Rectification will be required in cases of illegal construction, tree farming, hunting and waste discharges. Under the restoration plan, all mandated remedies should be done by the end of June.
By the end of 2020, mines and small hydropower stations in Qinling’s protected areas should be eliminated and their environmental impacts repaired.
Religious sites, tourist projects and homestays in the area also will be more closely supervised, the statement said.
Officials with the Qinling office of the province’s development and reform commission had not replied by press time to China Daily’s faxed questions about details of measures to strengthen project management in Qinling.
The office is responsible for coordinating the restoration campaign.
The restoration work follows the extensive demolition of villa projects in Qinling and a political reshuffling in Shaanxi that has seen over 1,000 officials held accountable for either corruption or inaction.