China-Singapore Tianjin Eco_city Becomes First ational Green Devel-opment Demons

“China-Singapore Tian-jin Eco-city NationalGreen DevelopmentDemonstration Execu-tion Plan" has been ofiicially approvedto make it the first national green de-velopment demonstration area approvedby State Council, said Xie Zhenhua,vice director of National Developmentand Reform Commission recently. Hesaid that the green economic develop-ment has become world trend, but forChina, there are no experiences in greendevelopment. This green developmentdemonstration area will put priority tothe eco-civilization construction, settingexamples to exploring urbanization withChinese characteristics.

There is no coincidence to choosesuch a piece of saline land as demonstra-tion field. It is said that the field for eco-city is saline-alkali wasteland, with l/3saline beach, 1/3 abandoned salt fieldand l/3 water field contaminated. Thenatural conditions are poor and difficul-ties to improve the fields are huge. Ac-cording to Xie Zhenghua, it will be ofvital significance to build a green, low-carbon and recyclable ecological city."If we can build a green citylike this, Ibelieve we can copy such modelin otherregions or cities."

According to Xu Datong, directorof China-Singapore Eco-city Manage-ment Committee, "After 6 eyars of ef-forts, we have successfully treated thesewage reservoir that has existed formore than 40 years.The polluted sedi-ment treatment technology has acquiredmany national intellectual property,about 3.3 million square meter has fin-ished green afforestation, to explore anapproach to develop and use the salinebeach fields." Besides that, the Tianjineco-city has pioneered exploration andachieved success in six areas includingindicator system, green industry de-velopment, residential model, energy-saving and carbon emission reduction.

In 2013 the State Council hasapproved the construction of Tianjineco-city as national green develop-ment demonstration area, and askedthe NDRC and Tianjin governmentto make up execution plan throughha large number of survey, researchand repeated demonstration. The finalimplementation plan has been approvedby the State Councilin October.

According to implementation plan,Tianjin eco-city will be constructed asnational green development demonstra-tion area by 2020, to make it the creationarea of green development mechanismand source of green ideas and cultures.The culture industry value will surpass100 billion yuan, with renewable energytaking up 20%, non-traditional waterusage above 50% and green coveragemore than 50%.

Data from eco-city managementcommittee shows that all currently-building and finished projects havereached or surpassed national greenconstruction standard, to become themost concentrated area of national greenconstruction area.

"The development idea of eco-cityfits the national green developmentstrategy. The eco-city is the world'sfirst cooperation eco-city area betweencountries. It is an advanced idea forChina and Singapore government tocooperate in constructing Tianjin eco-city, to make the eco-city become onefeaturing harmonious co-existencebetween people, between human andeconomic activity, between humanand environment, to set an example tothe sustainable development of other cities,"explained Xie Zhenhua.

He further notes that the State Council hasset very high standard for Tianjin eco-city devel-opment.This approval of building national greendevelopment demonstration area is to explore abasic approach and effective model, mechanismand system for green development. The design ofeco-city, city construction, industry planning andcommunity construction have reflected the greenand low-carbon ideas.

According to Yuan Tongli, standing mem-ber of Tianjin City committee, China-Singa-pore Eco-city has become a strategic coopera-tion project between the two governments. Theproject started construction in September 2008,and at the beginning ofthe cooperation, the de-sign area is 30 square meters covering 350,000people. Estimated show that it will finish by 10-15 years. After 6 years of development, Chinaand Singapore Tianjin Eco-city has finishedinfrastructure area construction of 8 square me-ters. Huifeng Crook, Qingjing Lake and Eco-logical Valley have also finished construction.

The implementation plan has set out 6 tasksfor building national green development demon-stration area and 120 particular works, includingcity planning optimization, promotion of greenand low-carbon industry, promotion of greenand smart city, further exploration of resourceefficiency and recycle, strengthening of eco-construction and environmental protection anddevelopment ofgreen culture.

Xu Datong thinks that the eco-city willplan the construction of the city center and twosub-centers, to integrate the different layers ofcommeraal facilities and life services. Also, therewill be an open ecological space layout featuring"one island, three water areas and six corridors",to form a green belt combing functions of scen-ery, environment and recreation.

"Remarkable achievements have also beenmade in improving the smart management ofthe eco-city, besides the areas ofgreen construc-tion and transportation. Now our monitoringservice has covered the whole area through themanagement center. We have also established aquick response mechanism for the sanitary andfire-prevention department." He commentedthat the eco-city will continue its exploration intosmart city management and promotion of theintegration of telecommunication network, TV& broadcast network and internet, to provideconvenience for information-based life and cityinformational operation.

The implementation plan also uses onechapter to describe the mechanism and systemfor innovation of green development, requiringthe eco-city to break through policy obstacles inkey areas and accumulate experiences to set exam-ple for national green development. Now Tianjingovernment has broken down 52 specific works interms of mechanism innovation.

Multiple supplementary policies tobenefit enterprises

The implementation plan will further pro-mote the development of ecological area and au-thorize the eco-city 18 policy-making powers inareas ofindustry, finance, taxation, resource andenvironment. Put it more specifically, it includes:better facilitate investment and trade conveniencereform of the eco-city; establish green construc-tion industry demonstration base and e-commercedemonstratyon base; provide income tax deduc-tion service for energy-saving companies whenbuying equipment; business pilot project for cross-border RMB innovation business; support the es-tablishment of financialleasing company; supportthe creation of resource-recyclable and technicalindustry demonstration base; encourage variousinvestments into health service industry by us-ing social and foreign capital; encourage eco-citycompanies to go listed in Singapore and issue realestate trust fund.

As important pilot measures of domesticfinancialindustry, China Singapore Tianjin Eco-city Cross-border RMB innovation business hasbeen launched in July last year. This policy is thefirst case ofthe world in eco-city financing. Sincethe business started, the eco-city investmentfirms have applied for cross-border RMB loanbusiness towards Bank of China, China Con-struction Bank and Merchants Bank. Xu Datongsaid, "2014 we will issue 2 billion yuan RMBloan to support companies of the eco-city, help-ing them expand financing channel and improveinvestment environment."

He said, " Ihis Implementation Plan not onlysupports cross-border RMB-based business, butalso allows real-estate developers to issue real-estatetrust fund to collect capital for green constructions.I think this policy will further expand financingchannels for companies and benefit their rapidgrowth and urban construction."

Also, the health service industry will becomeanother pillar industry of the eco-city develop-ment. As a batch of medical facilities has been con-structed, the eco-city health service industry willachieve better progress. "Besides the rehabilitationand medicalinstitutions, the eco-city will constructstate-of-the-art retirement community and elderpeople facility R&D center. It will also explorejoint venture, alliance medical service, expansionof health care talents, and creation ofhealth servicevoluntary system," said Xu Datong.