Shanghai has taken the first step in a major new effort to
modernize its agriculture, improve the lives of farmers and
equalize government infrastructure spending between rural and
suburban areas.
The development blueprint, endorsed on Saturday by the Shanghai
Committee of the Communist Party of China, sketches out the intent
to build a "new socialist countryside" by 2020 that fosters greater
prosperity in the farm community.
The plan's major provisions call for increasing financial
support for agribusiness, better training for farmers in modern
agricultural methods, greater funding for transport, environmental
protection and communications in suburban areas and improved social
security for those who work the land.
"We will concentrate on projects that are closely related to
farmers' fundamental interests," Party Secretary Chen Liangyu told
a plenary meeting of the committee.
He urged committee members to take a more balanced view on the
joint development of the 600-square-kilometer downtown and the
6,000 square kilometers of rural land.
The proposal encourages city government to increase its
financial support for rural projects and raise the level of
infrastructure spending to make it equal with funding for the
downtown.
Much of the new investment will be used to build a better public
transport system, including a bus network among villages, more
roads and several Metro lines linking the suburbs to the
downtown.
One of the biggest projects is a connection between Pudong and
Chongming Island that features a 8.9-kilometer tunnel and a
10.3-kilometer bridge to be finished by 2010. The project also
includes an extension of the under-construction Metro No. 9 to
Chongming.
In the proposal's environmental protection area, the government
is urged to conserve historic structures, including bridges, old
villages and canal towns, and help develop rural tourism, including
bed-and-breakfast inns.
The city is also asked to spend more on modern technologies to
grow grain, vegetables, rapeseed and other crops.
Also under the proposal, city government is encouraged to build
a rural medical insurance system similar to the one in the downtown
and to subsidize vocational training for suburban students.
(Shanghai Daily July 10, 2006)