Urban and Rural Planning and Building

The pace of town planning and building in Zhaoqing has been accelerating. Up to date a considerable part of the original plan covering both the overall area and the city proper of various counties has been completed, including the upgrading of some special projects. With the aid of the Municipality's Public Infrastructure Building Fund drawn from various sources, the Jiangbin East Road, Zhaoqing Road, the Central flood-regulating Lake, the city's sewage treatment system and the non-toxic garbage landfill have been built. In the same vein, Tianning Road, No.4 and No.5 Duanzhou Roads have been widened and extended. In addition, the planning, development and management of its satellite counties and municipalities have been much strengthened.

The Municipality's infrastructure is steadily improving. Town planning is based on both the principle of retaining its natural scenery and landscape and that of serving the long-term interests of the place. In practice, three guidelines are strictly followed, namely preserving as much open and green area as possible, allotting sufficient space for roads and for parking purposes. A major breakthrough in city building is achieved through a new model of financing. Instead of relying on public funds alone, the Municipality now applies flexibly the commercial principle of return to investment to attract different types of external funds, one channel being the bringing in of national bonds. Examples of using national bonds include the Zhaoqing Road in the city's Eastern New District, the Star Lake Road, and the first phase of the city's sewage treatment plant. No.4 and No.5 Duanzhou Roads has been created a 20 meter-wide green belt along the pedestrian pavement. Next to the west side of the Archway has been added a public green field of 10000 square meters. Examples of using foreign and private inland funds for infrastructure building include the renovation of Tianning Road, the extension of Song City East Road, and transforming the Central Flood-regulating Lake into the Baiyue Lake Park, as well as the building of the second phase of the city's sewage treatment plant.

Real estates have become one of Zhaoqing's key sectors. The investments in this realm for the years 1998 to 2000 are respectively 830 million Yuan, 1.41 billion Yuans and 1.38 billion Yuan. As a result, the sales of the floor area of commodity housing have increased from 527 thousand square meters to 703 hundred thousand square meters in the said period. The floor area of commodity housing under construction increases from 1 million 389 hundred thousand square meters to 2 million 144 hundred thousand square meters, earning a tax revenue of 160 million Yuan for the nation, as compared with the 65 million Yuan in 1998. In 2002, the actual sales of commodity housing stands at 670 hundred thousand meters at a value of 106 million Yuan.