A foundation stone-laying ceremony for a new rural community was held in Ruzhou, Henan province, on Dec 5.

Officials from Ruzhou, including Li Quansheng, secretary of the Ruzhou municipal Party committee, and Wan Ying and Zhang Jianqi, mayor and vice-mayor of Ruzhou, respectively, were on hand at the ceremony for the Zhonglou Street Erlidian new rural community.

Wan addressed the attendants.

The new community is an important project to enhance people’s livelihood. The municipal committee and government worked hard to promote its development. It is important to coordinating urban and rural development as well as promoting urban-rural integration, according to Wan.

The Zhonglou Street Erlidian community has the largest planned area for projects of its kind in the city. Commencement of construction marked the further development of a new community in Ruzhou, which would greatly improve the residential environment and quality of life for people in Erlidian.

The Zhonglou Street Erlidian community is a pilot project and a major project of the municipal government. The project borders Yuejin Road, Weiyi Road, Chenghuan South Road and Jingsan Road. With an investment of 1 billion yuan ($164.7 million), the project’s planned building area is 21.4 hectares, and the total designed construction area is over 500,000 sq m. It will include 2,627 apartments with over 330,000 sq m of residential area, which can accommodate over 10,000 residents.

A comprehensive service center, community health service center, kindergarten, community cultural activity center, comprehensive supermarket and other service facilities will be built in the community.

Edited by Michael Thai and Liu Yufen