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Beijing Strives to Become "Green City"
Beijing, China's capital city, has drawn up an ambitious plan to have its green land coverage increased to 40 percent by 2005 and 45 percent by 2010.
Beijing Mayor Liu Qi announced the plan to build the capital into a "green metropolis" at a teleconference on afforestation Thursday.
According to the city government's plan, Beijing residents will have an average of 10 square meters of green space in five years, and 15 square meters in 10 years.
In the downtown area, the per capita amount of greenery, which includes grass, trees and bushes, will reach four square meters by 2005 and six square meters by 2010.
Mayor Liu Qi spoke of Beijing's achievements over recent years.
The city has planted 25 pieces of new lawns each spreading over 10,000 square meters, besides a batch of minor lawns stretching several hundred square meters each.
The city now also has 10 large green areas, each having a size of over 300 hectares.
By the end of 2000, Beijing's green coverage has risen to 36 percent, averaging 8.68 square meters per resident.
To ensure that the goal is reached, the municipal authority will strengthen its urban planning work and will take a tougher stance on illegal buildings.
Such illegal buildings will be demolished and replaced with green space whenever possible, mayor Liu said.
To solve the shortage of available land in the downtown area, the city plans to use walls, bridges and roofs and increase the amount of greenery by renovating the old city areas.
It will ban the building of any "China Wall" or solid wall that will block lawns, trees, and shrubbery from the public.
New construction projects will be required to complete its afforestation work simultaneously. Otherwise, they will be banned from going into operation.
The municipal government will also increase its spending on afforestation, strengthen the scientific research and improve its management and maintenance of the green areas.
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