BEIJING - China published an action plan on rural construction on May 23 to improve people's livelihoods in rural areas and facilitate the country's rural revitalization drive.
The construction of the rural area is an important task in the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy and an important element in the modernization of the country. Since the 18th Party Congress, all regions and departments have conscientiously implemented the decisions and plans of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, focusing on public infrastructure construction in rural areas and continuously improving production and living conditions in rural areas, resulting in great changes in the appearance of the countryside. At the same time, China's rural infrastructure and public service system is not yet complete, and there are still some outstanding shortcomings and weak links in some areas, and there is still a gap with the growing needs of the farmers for a better life. In order to solidly promote the rural construction action and further enhance the livability and livability of the countryside, this action plan has been formulated.
The action plan should adhere to the following work principles: respecting the rules and working steadily; adapting to local conditions and classifying guidance; focusing on conservation and reflect rural characteristics; government guidance and farmer participation, ensure the government's leading role in planning guidance, policy support and organisational guarantee; emphasizing both construction and management, ensure long-term operation; conserving resources and build green, promote intensive and economical recycling of resources, promote green planning, green design and green construction.
By 2025, tangible progress should be made on rural construction, and continuous improvement should be seen in the rural living environment, according to the document jointly issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council General Office.
In the meantime, China also expects positive progress on ensuring that every village and household has access to rural infrastructure, steady advancement in basic public services, and solid results on promoting cultural and ethical progress in rural areas.
The action plan will play a guiding role in advancing the rural construction initiative and making rural areas more attractive places to live and work, according to the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group.
The document lists 12 key tasks for promoting rural construction. First is to strengthen rural planning and construction management, including formulating a unified plan. Insist on county planning and construction as a whole, clearly classify village layout and refine the classification criteria. The boundaries of various types of spatial control are reasonably delineated, rural living space is optimally laid out, the scope of rural construction planning is defined according to local conditions, agricultural production space and rural ecological space are strictly protected, and the red line of 1.8 billion mu of arable land is firmly guarded. It is strictly forbidden to arbitrarily merge villages to create large communities or to demolish large buildings against the wishes of farmers. Actively and orderly promote the preparation of village plans. The village plan will play a guiding and restraining role to ensure that all construction is carried out in an orderly manner in accordance with the rules. Establish a mechanism for the preparation of village plans in which the government organises and leads, villagers play the main role and professionals provide technical guidance, so as to build and share a better homeland together.
Also, implementing rural road access projects and promoting more rural road construction projects to enter villages and households. Implementing the project of upgrading village-level comprehensive service facilities, and promoting the integrated planning and construction of public lighting facilities with village roads and public places. Implement the project to improve the quality and safety of agricultural housing, and establish an integrated management system and mechanism at the provincial level from land use, planning, construction to use, and implement safety supervision responsibilities. Implement a five-year campaign to improve the living environment in rural areas. Implement actions to enhance basic public services in rural areas, ensure counties' supporting role in the integrated development of urban and rural areas, strengthen the comprehensive service functions of county cities, promote the focus of the service and resources to reach rural levels, and adopt fixed facilities and mobile services to improve the accessibility and convenience of public services for rural residents.
Other key tasks include strengthen flood and drought control and water supply protection in rural areas; implementing rural clean energy construction projects; implementing the construction project of cold chain logistics facilities for the storage and preservation of agricultural products; implementing the project of building and developing digital villages; strengthen the construction of rural grass-roots organizations; deepening the construction of spiritual civilization in rural areas.
The projects will cover areas such as road transport, water supply, energy, logistics, informatization, comprehensive services, rural housing and living environment, it said.
The plan also listed policy support and protection for the implementation of the tasks, including strengthen financial input protection, innovate financial services, guide the participation of social forces, improve the policy of intensive and economical land use. Also, the plan calls for strengthening the support of talents and technical standards, and supporting the participation of professionals and technicians familiar with villages in village planning and design and project construction.
Source:
<https://english.www.gov.cn/policies/latestreleases/202205/24/content_WS628c31bcc6d02e533532b372.html>
<https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/5VMkqd2TIQwW9lfSfzj2hQ>
Edited and translated by Fan Junyi
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