《湖南致力于平衡环境与经济增长》

Hunan is determined to balance the environment with economic growth

By Feng Zhiwei and Hao Nan (China Daily)

Bird's eye view of Changsha, capital of Hunan. The province established a pilot zone covering Changsha and the two cities of Zhuzhou and Xiangtan in 2008 to work toward improving both economic development and environmental consciousness. Photos Provided to China Daily

Hunan province is placing priority over the next five years on an eco-friendly society and ecological restoration, the governor has said.

So, they are working on a green GDP to ensure sustainable development and to benefit the people, according to Governor Xu Shousheng.

"We'd like to align growth with environmental protection and don't want to repeat the mistakes made in pushing economic growth at the cost of our living environment," Xu explained.

"The (new) evaluation system will take resource consumption and environmental degradation into consideration."

The government has promised its people "clean water, fresh air and safe food".

A pollution treatment plan for the Xiangjiang River is included in a national development blueprint, he said.

"The Xiangjiang River is called Hunan's 'Mother River' because it flows through eight of the province's cities. The businesses in the region account for more than 70 percent of our GDP and over 40 million people live near the river. So, it is hard to imagine building an eco-friendly province without dealing with this problem."

The central government has said it will allocate about 60 billion yuan ($9.2 billion) for the pollution treatment.

"We believe the heavy metal pollution in the Xiangjiang River will be effectively under control within the next five or 10 years," Xu said.

The Hunan government is also moving to improve the water quality of Dongting Lake, and has closed 234 of the 296 papermaking companies there because of waste discharges. Those that do meet the cleanliness requirement have to spend more to upgrade their environmental protection methods.

Green industry

Hunan said it is making an effort to change its industrial structure by shifting traditional industries over to greener ones with less pollution, lower emissions and less consumption.

"These include top equipment manufacturers, the culture business, and the biological and information industry," explained the governor.

In Xiangtan, in central Hunan, a large high-tech industrial park is being built for companies in clean energy technology, steel processing, electronic information and automobiles and auto parts.

Yueyang, a major industrial city, is also undergoing a structural realignment. The city government has spent 3.3 billion yuan on several hundred projects and has closed a chemical pulp operation, and 34 outdated thermal power and cement plants and rolling mills.

"We've showed our determination to balance the environment with economic growth and we're confident of reaching our goal," the governor concluded.