Xiongan to afforest over 13,000 hectares in 2019

SHIJIAZHUANG -- The Xiongan New Area in North China's Hebei province will complete an afforestation project of more than 13,000 hectares with several green belts built this year, the provincial forestry department announced Saturday.

In 2018, more than 7,300 hectares of forest and 10 million nursery stocks were planted in Xiongan New Area about 100 km southwest of Beijing, raising its forest coverage rate by 6 percentage points.

In January, China's central authorities approved the 2018-2035 master plan for Xiongan. According to the plan that stresses high-quality development, Xiongan will become a modern city that is green, intelligent and livable with "relatively strong competitiveness and human-environment harmony by 2035."

Hebei will beef up afforestation programs. A total of 513,333 hectares of forest will be added in the province in 2019, increasing the forest coverage to 35 percent.

The province began a three-year afforestation campaign in 2018, planting more trees to build a "green wall" for Beijing.