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City vows to develop green economy

By Zhao Tingting (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-06-09 18:07

Taiyuan, capital of China's coal-rich Shanxi province, pledged to turn into a greener city, even though hardly hit by the worsening international financial crisis, said Li Junming, the city's vice mayor on Monday.

Taiyuan is a traditional heavy industry base in China, with coal, steel and power generation industries accounting for over 80 percent of the city's industrial sector. Severely impacted by the crisis, the city's GDP decreased 0.8 percent in the first quarter of this year from a year earlier, while Shanxi's GDP went down 8.1 percent during the same period.

"Though given the backdrop of the financial crisis and the city economy's downtrend pressure, we will adhere to the green economy transformation move," Li said.

The city planned to withdraw all coal enterprises from its six major districts gradually, two of which had completed the goal last year.

The crisis caused tremendous losses to the city's energy and steel sectors, says Li, but also offered opportunities to develop other environmentally friendly industries at lower costs, such as tourism.

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With a history of over 2,500 years, Taiyuan was the capital of nine dynasties, which left a rich cultural and historical heritage, for instance the well-known ancient architecture of the Jinci Temple. The city's beautiful, natural landscape and unique cuisine also add power to its charm.

Yet, these valuable tourism resources have been long neglected, as the city is so famous for its ample natural resources, such as coal and iron ore, and has been designated as a heavy industry base since the establishment of the People's Republic of China.

In order to keep a momentum for the city's economic development under the crisis when traditional polar sectors lost their advantages, Taiyuan had to find other gaining points.

Then came the tourism sector. It earned considerable revenues during this year's Labor Day holiday and Dragon Boat Festival holidays and attracted tourists from all over the country, Li said.

To better protect Taiyuan's cultural relics, five of the city's heritage sites were projected to apply for the world heritage status with a municipal government supplement of 2 billion yuan, according to Li.

Transportation was also improved to accelerate the tourism development in Taiyuan, Li added.

High-speed railway trains between Beijng and Taiyuan were launched in April this year, shortening the travel time to three hours from the previous eight hours. The travel will be cut to two hours in 2012, said Li.

Taiyuan is determined to phase out dated productivity capacity and realize its green transformation objectives, Li said.