Photo Description: Yichang, a beautiful city surrounded by clean rivers and green hills (Reporter and photographer: Li Feng)
Just like a poem goes, “to see silver hills rammed by rolling rivers, one can just open his window”, the better understanding of Yichang as a livable city also relies on the efforts of the past.
Since five years ago, Yichang has been focusing on the goal of establishing a modern megacity, vigorously implementing a two-wheel drive strategy of “building New District and Updating Old City”, keeping to new theories like postmodernism, ecology and wisdom, polarizing “one core”, strengthening “five sub-centers”, highlighting “one belt and four corridors”, improving the development of locals and the city, the interaction of new and old areas, the fusion of production zones and the city as well as the integration of urban and rural areas, upgrading city’s comprehensive bearing capacity and bettering living environment.
Surrounded by rivers and hills, the city is in harmony. Now, Yichang plays a more and more important role in the Yangtze River Economic Belt as a hub city and in the Three Gorges City Cluster as a core city, with its strategy framework of making this city big, strong, excellent and beautiful.
Compared to the situation five years ago, urbanization rate of Yichang has increased by 9.83%, from 47% to 56.83%; the coverage of built-up areas in central city by 68.7%, from 103.71 square kilometers to 175 square kilometers; the total length of urban roads in central city by 285%, from 150 kilometers to 577.6 kilometers; afforestation rate by 24.3%, from 35% to 43.5%; the coverage of park land per capita by 31.37%, from 10.84 square meters to 14.24 square meters.
On the bank of the Yangtze River, Yichang, a dream-chasing post-modern mega-city, is unfolding its charming and graceful long painting scroll--- the fast-changing and widening New District, the harmoniously blending of river, banks and hills.
In 2013, Yichang launched the construction of New District as the core engine and an important platform for the building of a big, strong, excellent, beautiful modern megacity with the goal of “gaining effect within a year, establishing its image within three years, forming scale within five years”. In light of its actual circumstances, based on the old city, it is designed to expand to the east, west, north and south, and form a city development distribution of “One River, Two Banks” in a natural and gradual way.
The construction of New District relies on the Yangtze River as a main development axis, creates “one belt, several corridors, ten areas and multiple centers”, forms five major industry pillars, and improves the fusion of production zones and the city as well as the integration of urban and rural areas. In these two years, Yichang has newly and continuously built 316 projects successively, planned to invest 208.5 billion yuan in total and actually invested 80.6 billion yuan, with a daily investment amount of 0.1 billion yuan.
The east area of the city, the East Railway Station area, Shahe Town, Tangjiawan Village and Shiban Village area, Olympic Sports Center area, Wulong and Juanqiao River area are under overall construction. The municipal infrastructure represented by the Zhixi Yangtze River Bridge, Dianjun Avenue, the BRT of Dongshan Avenue, Xiazhou Avenue is under rapid construction and will be completed. The construction of fast traffic ring network of “inner, middle and outer” begins to take effect, with the inner ring closed within this year. Many public service facility projects of culture, education, health, sports such as Olympic Sports Center, Planning Exhibition Hall and museums are completed successively to further develop city’s functions. A large batch of municipal facilities like Huayan sewage treatment plant and Majiawan solid waste landfill are newly built or continuously built to further improve city’s comprehensive bearing capacity. Ecological construction of “Eight major parks, six major river systems” represented by Moji Mountain Park, Juanqiao River Wetland Park, Bolin River Wetland Park is being rapidly pushed forward, with urban landscape of “people living in green city” preliminarily represented. Resettlement residential areas like Jiuancheng, Shanshuiyuan, Wulongyangguang are built with an area of 2.2 million square meters and 21000 apartments having been sold out. CBD with an investment amount of 15 billion yuan will stand in Yichang at the height of 330 meters as a new urban landmark. Jiangnan ecological new city covering an area of 5.1 square kilometers is reestablishing a new urban cultural tourism center, with modern service worth hundreds and billions yuan on the way……
According to the goal of “establishing image within three years”, the picture and framework of New District is taking shape in a clearer way, and the frame of city is basically completed with a new look “surrounded by rivers and hills in group, glorified by natural scenes”. Thus, an ecological, wise, new city has entered people’s life.
To build broad roads, convenient transportation in harmony with people, to upgrade city’s comprehensive bearing capacity, and to increase people’s happiness index, Huang Chuping, member of the Standing Committee of Provincial Committee of Hubei Province and the secretary of Yichang Municipal CPC Committee, stressed that advanced theories including ecology, environment protection, energy conservation, wisdom, convenience, diversification and fusion should be applied in the construction and management of the city, in order to further improve city’s functions, upgrade city’s taste and create a better Yichang.
Reestablishing travel ideas, and upgrading city’s functions. During “the 12th Five-Year Plan”, Yichang aims at building a modern city according to the highest standard, planning to meet high quality demands, keeping to the concept of “people oriented and people’s livelihood issues in the first place”, improving the expansion of road network framework in the city, and creating ecological road network, with the construction of road network framework like fast roads and primary roads completely launched, and the rudiment of fast traffic ring network in the city preliminarily represented.
At present, BRT road and the road from Dongshan Avenue to Yichang East Railway Station have opened to traffic, and the road from Yiling District to Night Pearl is under construction, with a total investment amount of 2.35 billion yuan; YichangZhixi Yangtze River Bridge with a total investment amount of 2.7 billion yuan will be completed; Wujiagang Yangtze River Bridge with a total investment amount of 3.087 billion yuan is expected to be built in the end of this year;Many projects have been completed and put into use, such as six kilometers of DianjunRoad,with al length of 14 kilometers and a cost of 1.71 billion yuan, 12.21 kilometers long Fourth DongshanRoad,costing 0.98 billion, the roadbed of the 12.2 kilometers long Xiazhou Road with a cost of 1.73 billion yuan, the structure and the bridge bearing platform of Huaxi Road with a total length 5.4 kilometers and an investment of 1.2 billion yuan, and the upper part of the 8 kilometers long and 1.579 yuanJiangcheng Road etc. Now a multi-level and multi-mode city comprehensive transportation system is coming into being in correspondence with Yichang’s modernization, sustainable, fast and convenient, energy saving and emission-reducing features.
By 2015, the total length of our urban expressway, major and minor arterial is 577.6 kilometers, including 91.9 kilometers of expressway, 340.7 kilometers of major arterial and 83.7 kilometers of minor arterial. During the period of the Twelfth Five Year Plan, 210 kilometers of expressway, major and minor arterial were built and 15.284 billion yuan investment was made in Yichang, including 62 kilometers of expressway and 306 kilometers of major and minor arterial. The expressway circle network will reach the closure of the inner circle by the end of the year. The three level (the inside, the middle and the outside) expressway network of Yichang will be gradually formed. The new era of convenient transportation in Yichang is coming.
The building of road is for the convenient travelling of all people. To enhance the city\'s comprehensive carrying capacity and radiation power in all aspects and improve residents’ happiness index,when promoting the construction of urban road network in light of post-modern philosophy and international horizon to improve the function of the road, Yichang highlights the city\'s personality, accelerates the construction of ecological landscape and urban green road, upgrades the level of road greening , and improves the system of public service facilities, production and service design and life service platform.
Thus, the old city is reconstructed and is taking on a new look, such as new buildings after renovation, great changes in city and towns brought by urban infrastructure construction, the improvement of people’s livelihood and social progress promoted by the major livelihood projects.
According to the thought of“two reduction and addition” oriented to lower the population and building density, add more infrastructure facilities and expand more public space., Yichang has started 170 shanty towns-transformation projects involving 45400 residents by adhering to the comprehensive mending and managing principle of mending both the outside and the inside in a plane and facade level. Up till now, the total space of the completed and construction-in-process installed housing is 5.1831 million square meters, and more than 400 building’s cover and inside have been comprehensively mended to improve the living environment of residents.
Focusing on promoting the mending work along Dongshan Road, Yanjiang Road, Fazhan Road, Jiangnan Road, Chengdong Road to form a new framework of “8 vertical, 8 horizontal and 8 parts” circle outside and net inside and to finish all the mending work and achieve a fluent and wonderful reconstruction, we have finished 580 mending work by the end of the year. By adhering to the human-oriented and giving-benefits-to-people principle, we have placed the installed housing together and plan the locations according to the 5 willing concept, accelerated the construction of the installed housing to let the house wait for the people and kept on making Yichang a happy new city where the people can get more pay if they work harder, can get better education if they want to learn, can live in a better house if they want to settle down, can consult better doctor if they are sick, and can be taken good care when they grow old.
According to the overall requirements of “being clean, green, bright, beautiful, quiet and fluent” we arrange the three big projects of greening, beautifying and brightening in a unified way to fundamentally improve the image of the old city , promote the quality of the city and make Yichang a convenient modern city with complete functions, well-equipped facilities and beautiful environment. Adhering to the thought of “being elegant, comfortable and livable”, we have also finished the construction of 151 points of the Night View Light Project with a cost almost 100 million yuan, installed more than 90,000 decorative lights, and further strengthened the river city characteristic of “a city of two banks” .
People are living in a green city. During the Twelfth Five Year Plan period, we adhere to the ecology coming first policy and have started, with a total investment of 2.5 billion yuan, an unprecedented ecological construction in Yichang .such as initiating the construction of Mojishan Park, Chengdong Park, Dongshan Park (rebuilt), Bingjiang projects Park (rebuilt), the triangle green land of Yichang East train station, starting the bank landscape mending project of the canals, Huangbai River, Bailin River, Juanqiao River and Sand River., the starting of green road system construction in Yichang and the completion of the pre-research work for the green road construction planning. At present, the green road along the canal, Dongshan Road, Binjiang Road, Chengdong Road and other green roads are under construction. We have also grouped mountains, waters districts and green land in the city and put them into permanent protection by legislation, for instance, 34 pieces of green park land with a total space of 944 hectares, 8 mountains with 1517.73 hectares total space and two water districts are permanently conserved. By far the total green land space of our city is 4985 hectares, the green land space of parks is 1375 hectares while the green space ratio is 43.5% and the green coverage ratio is 48.2%, the per capita greenery area is 14.24 square meters.
With half water and half land, Yichang is becoming an ecologically livable “excellent and beautiful” mega-city. (Reporter Xiao Min; Correspondent Xiang Daiqin)