CRI听力:Development Plan to Guide Resource-dependent Cities

The plan is being described as the first national framework on the sustainable development of resource-dependent cities.

It puts the 262 cities on the list into four categories based on their resource sustainability, namely "growing," "mature," "declining" and "regenerative."

The plan comes as decades of exploitation has dried up resources in a number of Chinese cities, leaving them saddled with problems such as environmental degradation, unemployment and a heavy social security burden.

Du Ying, vice director of the National Development and Reform Commission, says the new plan outlines different growth priorities for different cities.

He says the new plan also includes policy support for restructuring and upgrading.

"For "growing" cities with vast resources to be tapped, the government will raise the threshold for exploration and set proper development intensity levels. Cities with a mature use of their resources should push forward with industrial transformation and upgrades. For cities that expect declining resources, the focus should be mostly on trying to develop different industries. In so-called regenerative cities that have freed themselves from their reliance on resources should focus on promoting quality growth, evaluating environmental costs and establishing a long-term mechanism for sustainable development."

Du Ying says resource-rich cities have made tremendous contributions to China's economic development.

But he also notes their sacrifice, in many cases, has also been huge.

A study included in the new plan has also determined China's resource-exhausted cities, around 70 million square meters of shantytown areas need renovation, 600-thousand miners remain unemployed and over 1.8 million others are living on subsistence allowances.

Xu Hongcai, chief of budgeting with the Ministry of Finance, says the central government has plans to offer financial support and resource tax changes to help the cities grow sustainably.

"As we are pushing forward resource tax reforms, the resource-dependent cities will gain more income. As far as special transfer payments are concerned, we will offer more support in compensation for mine resources, and the distribution of the prospecting and mining rights."

The overall goal of the new plan involves the complete transformation of resource-exhausted cities by 2020.

For CRI, I'm Wu Yanping.