China's cities, exhausted of their resources, will be on the
track to sustainable development by 2015.
A new guideline issued by the State Council has set up a
timetable to rehabilitate problem-plagued cities that call for
solutions to fix major issues by 2010.
The central government will provide additional financial support
from 2007 to 2010 to help boost the cities' capability to provide
basic-level public services, especially in the fields of social
security, education, medical care, environmental protection, and
infrastructure construction.
The State Council ordered the Ministry of Finance, National
Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Land and
Resources, and the Office of the Leading Group for Revitalizing
Northeast China to hand in a list of resource-exhausted cities and
concrete plans to redevelop them.
The guideline also included policies favoring poor, urban
families.
City leaders will be evaluated based on their performances in
tackling unemployment, poverty, social security system building,
and environmental protection.
Many of the former resource-rich cities are concentrated in
northeastern China.
(CRI December 25, 2007)
