Zhejiang to further promote Big Garden construction this year

Zhejiang province announced its major Big Garden construction tasks this year at a press conference held on April 23 to make green the most prominent color in the province.

Big Garden construction is a plan formulated by the Provincial Development and Reform Commission of Zhejiang in 2019 that aims to transform Zhejiang into a "big garden".

The province will carry out reforms based on the "Two Mountains" theory, which states that "clear waters and green mountains are as good as mountains of gold and silver" and focuses on environmental protection and development.

Reforms in Zhejiang counties will be updated as "national-level" reforms and the "national pilot of value realization of ecological products" in Lishui city will be bolstered.

Zhejiang plans to develop a total of 30 Big Garden "model" counties by the end of this year and accelerate the development of core areas of the Big Garden project – Quzhou and Lishui.

Each of the two cities plan to develop four new Big Garden model counties, start developing two or three Two Mountains banks, and build more than five five-star hotels.

In addition, their trans-regional water quality, importance of the tourism industry to their overall GDP, and other indicators will be higher than the provincial average, and their forest coverage rate will be higher than other cities in Zhejiang.

A scenic greenway in Quzhou will open as well, while construction on 2,617 kilometers of greenway in Lishui will be completed.

Furthermore, Zhejiang plans to promote all-for-one tourism development. It will develop six or seven national-level all-for-one tourism demonstration zones and around 10 model counties for all-for-one tourism and reduce ticket prices for the province's scenic spots.

The province will create 100 boutique tourism routes and 10 mountain parks, build one 5A-level scenic area, and begin construction on 10 island parks, namely Shengsi, Daishan, Dinghai, Putong, Hua'ao, Shepan, Dongji, Dachen, Dalu, and Dongtou.

It will also carry out 183 major tourism projects receiving a total of 199.5 billion yuan ($28.21 billion), accounting for 16 percent of the province's total investment.

In addition, Zhejiang will continue developing its recycling economy. It will accelerate construction on 21 model recycling cities, build another 10 provincial-level recycling cities, and invest 20 billion yuan in 198 State and provincial-level recycling pilot projects.