Guangdong Special: Province sets ecological control line to optimize urban development

Guangdong's government is striving to improve its quality of growth by focusing on ecological protection in urbanization.

As part of this, a key measure was to implement an ecological control line for urban construction.

Ecological control line refers to the boundary demarcated for controlling urban development in the light of protecting major ecological elements under the prerequisite of respecting urban natural eco-system and rational environmental capacity.

The move is aimed to safeguard the urban ecology, optimize urban layout and make the eco-system complete and successive.

The provincial government made the decision last October and called for zoning for the control lines to be completed by the end of 2014.

"The move is an important step for improving the quality of urbanization," said Cai Ying, deputy director-general of the provincial department of housing and urban-rural development.

"We will make good use of the initiative to keep a balance of spaces for production, living and ecological development."

The official said that the province pins hope on the eco-control line to bridle development and construction by fortifying the spatial control on urban and rural planning and to play a regulatory role in optimizing urban layout and preventing urban areas from disorderly expansion.

He added that getting the boundary of urban development under control and establishing the pattern of ecological safety for healthy urbanization are the starting point of the initiative.

Cai said the step was especially important for Guangdong as the province has experienced uncontrolled urban expansion, inefficient land use and rapid urbanization, which has made the ecology increasingly vulnerable.

The province's urbanization rate reached 67.4 percent at the end of 2012, which was higher than the nation's average. The rate in the Pearl River Delta region was 83.84 percent, according to official statistics.

"The eco-control initiative is expected to guarantee ecological security, make land use more efficient while boosting the development of ecological facilities like natural parks, wetlands, ecological corridors, urban green areas and waterfronts. It is also expected to balance ecology, production and living and keep people and nature in harmony," Cai said.

"The new initiative can help control waste of resources and pollution of the environment in urban-rural developments, but will not lead to restraint of economic growth," the official said.

Cai said Shenzhen, which started using control lines in 2005, is an "encouraging example".

About 974 square kilometers - or nearly half - of Shenzhen's land area, is now inside control lines. The city recorded sustained economic growth and improved environment and ecology since 2006.

"Governments at different levels should enhance supervision on the eco-control line practice and this should be an important factor for evaluating local administrative performance," Cai suggested.

"We will keep watch on any possible illegal construction attempts inside the control lines," he said.

zhanlisheng@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 05/22/2014 page10)