In 2014, with a focus on building Shijiazhuang into an ecological and livable city, urban and rural construction and administration departments started infrastructure construction and comprehensive improvement projects, to promote the upgrading of counties, enhance urban carrying capacity, and strengthen urban infrastructure construction. In 2014, the city released four housing expropriation plans including 18 projects, demolished 66 villages in the city, and built 84 buildings for 3,680 households. It also started construction of 110 buildings and completed construction of 73 buildings with floor space of 1.59 million square meters. Eight streets in the main urban area were repaired, Taihang Street and Hongqi Street South had their capacity for carrying traffic upgraded, 50 small streets were also upgraded, and 427 buildings were repaired and decorated. The city laid 62 kilometers of new pipes to supply heat, and refurbished 351 km of old piping. At the end of 2014, the central heating area in the city covered an area of 145 million square meters.

 

The city also increased its garbage collection and disposal capabilities, clearing more than 10,000 tons of garbage from 186 household garbage storage locations within the city’s second ring, and establishing 20 rubbish stations beyond the city’s second ring. Shijiazhuang also promoted county construction. Total investment of 640 million yuan (＄98.15 million) was used to build 18 high-standard landscape avenues, 17 landmark streets, and 34 entrances, as well as renovating streets with a total length of 147.7 km. Many counties underwent improvement works. A total of 3.6 million sq m of illegal buildings were demolished, 970,000 tons of garbage was cleared, 9,190 advertising boards were renovated, and construction of 51 demonstration streets was completed.

 

In 2014, 38 protection projects in the ancient city of Zhengding were undertaken, and the national ancient cities protection conference was held in Zhengding County, where the Zhengding Declaration of the Protection of Ancient Cities was passed. Also, Beijing Academy of Social Sciences released the Chinese City Management Report, and Shijiazhuang city ranked fifth among 44 key cities in the country.

 

The city started nine new town construction projects and completed 21 key infrastructure projects in 2014. At the end of the year, the city's urbanization rate hit 54.4 percent. On Sept 30, 2014, Lingshou county’s Lingshou Town and Yuanshi county’s Huaiyang Town were named national ecological towns. In 2014, Luquan District and Jinzhou City won the province's habitat environment prize, and Gaoyi county and Yuanshi county were given a progress award. Average commodity housing transaction prices rose 1 percent compared with 2013. Hebei province authorized Shijiazhuang city to start construction of 27,000 houses, complete construction of 21,500 houses, and assign residents to move into 20,300 houses, as well provide low-cost housing for 500 additional households. By the end of 2014, the city had started construction work on 108 affordable housing projects, including building 31,113 houses, and completed 56 projects involving 24,881 houses. It has also completed 59 low-income housing projects, including building 20,594 houses and providing low-cost housing subsidies for 1,414 additional households, costing a total of 15.1 million yuan.

 

In 2014, 296,000 affordable houses were built or under construction in the city, including 222,000 in urban areas. 26,900 households enjoyed housing security, including 21,500 in the urban area. Among them, 21,400 households, including 17,500 in the urban area, enjoyed furnished accommodation, and 5,500 households, including 4,000 in the urban area, enjoyed rent subsidies. The cumulative subsidies for urban areas reached 240 million yuan. 3,008 houses were provided at the city level, and 16 housing estates covering an area of 912,000 sq m, including 19,500 houses, were under the management of the city, bringing in a rental income of 41.64 million yuan.

 

In 2014, the city issued 152 pre-sale permits for commercial housing, approving the pre-sale of 77 projects, covering an area of 8.06 million sq m, with 47,000 purchase inquiry certificates were issued. The total area of commercial housing available on the market reached 5.66 million sq m, with year-on-year growth of 58 percent, and the transaction area reached 5.52 million sq m, with year-on-year growth of 52 percent. The average transaction price was 6,140 yuan/sq m, with year-on-year growth of one percent. The urban second-hand housing transaction area reached 1.67 million sq m, down 7.7 percent, and the average transaction price was 5,275 yuan/sq m, down 0.93 percent. The city completed 158,384 various ownership registrations for house transactions in 2014, with year-on-year growth of 16.14 percent, and issued 132,225 certificates, representing year-on-year growth of 12.54 percent. Charges levied totaled 56.97 million yuan.

 

By the end of 2014, registered building property measured 118.54 million sq m, including a residential area of 79.44 sq m. The transaction amount for commercial housing reached 37.14 billion yuan, with year-on-year growth of 24.07 percent, and the transaction amount of housing stock reached 9.22 billion yuan, down 14.6 percent. In 2014, the city collected housing funds totaling 5.81 billion yuan, with year-on-year growth of 10.7 percent. Withdrawal of housing funds reached 2.67 billion yuan. The city offered personal housing accumulation fund loans worth 3.92 billion yuan, representing 130.73 percent of the plan. Distributable incremental income reached 409 million yuan.

 

The city’s air quality saw continuous improvement during the year. It experienced 114 days of good air quality in 2014. Among them, 12 were of grade I quality and 102 were classed as grade II, accounting for 31.2 percent of the total number of days. 101 days were of grade III quality, accounting for 27.7 percent; 48 days were of grade IV quality, accounting for 13.2 percent; 60 days were of grade V quality, accounting for 16.4 percent; and 42 days were of grade VI quality, accounting for 11.5 percent of total days. The city’s air pollution index was 10.88, with an inhalable particle pollution index, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution index, sulfur dioxide pollution index, nitrogen dioxide pollution index, carbonic oxide pollution index, and ozone pollution index of 3.260, 4.427, 1.673, 1.600, 1.050 and 1.000 respectively. In general, the city’s air quality showed no significant signs of improvement, with heavy particulate pollution. The city enacted various measures to prevent and control air pollution. Three iron and steel enterprises with six blast furnaces were shut down and 274 decentralized coal-fired boilers were demolished in urban areas. It cut coal usage by 3.1 million tons, and 34,000 suburban residents used briquette instead. It also shut down 1,244 coal preparation plants and coal storage yards. Seven thermal power generating units in cement companies completed denitration. Dust control projects at 14 coal-fired thermal power units and 17 coal-fired boilers in urban and surrounding areas were completed. Fly dust control projects at 592 construction sites were completed. Slag cars in urban areas adopted enclosed transportation. It demolished 18 cement companies through centralized blasting, reducing cement production capacity by 9.4 million tons. At the end of the year, average PM2.5 concentration in the main urban areas declined by 8.7 percent compared with the first half of the year.

 

The city also made efforts to improve landscaping. It built seven parks and one square in 2014, and renovated 14 parks, covering an area of 54,000 sq m. A total of 103 park management projects were standardized, and nine illegal projects covering 11,000 sq m were demolished. In 2014, 796,000 trees and 1.4 million shrubs were planted in counties and cities under the jurisdiction of Shijiazhuang. Also, 94.8 km of greenways and 325.2 hectares of green space were built, and 53 parks were built or upgraded. By the end of 2014, the city had built additional green land of 7.1 million sq m, and planted 7.7 million trees and shrubs. The green coverage ratio reached 44.58 percent, and the per capita green area reached 15.19 sq m. Luancheng District was named a “national health county”; Pingshan county, Yuanshi county and Jingxing Mining District were named “provincial garden counties”.

 

【Overview】In 2014, with a focus on building in Shijiazhuang into an ecological and livable city, urban and rural planning departments started construction work according to the standards of an advanced city and improved the legal system. Research work was carried out and then documents titled Suggestions on Strict Planning and Management to Speed up City Improvement and Negative Examples of Urban Construction were published.

 

In accordance with the requirements of the strict control of plot ratio and clearing of old projects by the municipal government, the sorting of residence projects with plot ratios above 3.0 has basically been completed. It has laid the foundations for implementation of the new version of plot ratio management regulations. The city strengthened planning in key areas, implementing special programs including Strategic Planning and Research on Space Development of the North Shore of Hutuo River, Deepening of Urban Design of Zhengding New District, Urban Design on Both Banks of Hutuo River, Detailed Construction Planning of the Old Railway Station, Liberation Square and Surrounding Areas, Implementation Assessment of General Urban Planning, and Protection of Traditional Villages and Inheritance of Featured Local Culture Research.

 

The city summarized situations including the transformation of urban villages, the construction of dangerous houses, the approval of industrial projects in the past five years, the progress of urbanization, 10 + X and 20 + X projects, and urban green space construction, providing reference for planning decisions. On June 1, Shijiazhuang Urban and Rural Planning Regulations were issued. On July 18, Shijiazhuang municipal government and the China Urban Planning and Design Institute signed a strategic cooperation memorandum. Focusing on major projects in the city, the two sides agreed to establish long-term cooperation in policy research, planning research, technical advice, and academic exchanges. The city supervised the counties and cities to carry out special programs including overall urban design and comprehensive transportation planning.

 

In 2014, the city's 368 key villages completed their transformations, among them, the provincial-level demonstration village of Xianiezhuang was approved by experts in Hebei province. The city also deepened reforms to administrative examination and approval systems, promoted transformation and improved efficiency of planning and management functions. In 2014, 1,294 projects were planned, 798 issues were resolved, 89 completion acceptance letters were signed, and all applications were dealt with on time.

 

The city intensified inspection of illegal structures and handled them in accordance with the law. In 2014, the main urban area supervised 483 post-approval management projects, including 2,610 buildings with a construction area of 50.21 million sq m. There were 118 planned acceptance projects with a construction area of 7.93 million sq m. It also found and investigated nine illegal construction projects.

 

The Urban and Rural Planning Bureau was awarded the province’s civilized law enforcement unit award in 2014. The city promoted projects to improve livelihoods, public welfare facilities, and bank lending. The sites chosen for the projects included Outlets mall, North Mall store, the museum, and Yintaihui, were all completed. It also issued land acquisition plans for construction of affordable housing, apartments for the elderly, and rail transportation. Suggestions were presented on site selection for dumps along Xinshengli Street and Hutuo River water source area.

 

To solve corresponding problems in the international trade city area, the city sought coordination of drainage, electricity, heating and other departments, as well as changes to the planning of sewage treatment stations and construction of pipes. It also coordinated and dealt with related engineering issues of the 307 national highway.

 

The city upgraded the planning exhibition hall through strengthening hardware construction, operation and management, and exhibition quality. A total investment of 3 million yuan (＄459,975 dollars) was used to complete the construction of a multimedia conference room and public space in the northern part of the hall. Advanced rail type display panels were put into use to improve the exhibition’s impact. A wireless network platform was completed to enable flexible interaction with visitors and real-time delivery of exhibition information, so as to provide a better visiting experience.

 

In 2014, the exhibition titled Overall Style Planning of Zhengding Ancient City and Shijiazhuang Memorabilia came to an end. Shijiazhuang Planning Bureau and Shijiazhuang Environmental Protection Bureau jointly organized and completed the construction of a temporary exhibition hall for Ecological Shijiazhuang. By the end of 2014, the city planning exhibition hall had received 6,170 visitors, including 163 tour groups. And the hall was bestowed on “Life education practice base for Shijiazhuang primary and middle school students” by Shijiazhuang municipal propaganda department, civilized office, and education bureau.

 

【Overview】In 2014, with the aim of building Shijiazhuang into a high-quality capital city and prevent air pollution, Shijiazhuang municipal city management committee carried out comprehensive city improvement projects, implementing construction of drainage engineering, strictly managing flood prevention, and undertaking municipal road and bridge maintenance tasks. In 2014, the committee was responsible for maintenance tasks on 25 main roads in urban areas and 422 bridges, as well as 1,211 secondary main roads and small streets, covering an area of 1.41 million square meters. The city has worked hard to crack down on illegal construction work, dealing with 210 suspected illegal construction plans in accordance with the law, and demolished illegal structures including “Shengshi home” and “Minxin River business street” on Heping Road. In 2014, more than 1,800 illegal construction projects in the urban area were dismantled, covering an area of nearly 800,000 sq m.

 

The city’s environment has undergone several improvements. The city focused on the renovation of the east plaza of the new railway station and the new provincial administrative center, and 61 new buildings with colorful illuminations. In 2014, 729 public toilets opened in the main urban area, 61 of which were in park squares. Also, 389 public toilets underwent maintenance in four districts of the city, and another 279 were opened in commercial areas. The city also carried out dust control work, with the aim of reducing dust that had gathered on roads. The city increased watering frequency on hazy days and on windy days of level 4 or above, with the installation of a continuous spraying system. Before May Day and National Day, large-scale dust suppression projects were undertaken, with around 10,000 urban management officers washing and cleaning main roads, overpasses, and waste.

 

In 2014, the city's four districts completed hardening tasks of the uncovered loess in 277 places in Erhuan Road and Sanhuan Road. It also increased investment in sanitation workers and cleaning equipment, and the machine cleaning rate of main roads and key areas reached over 80 percent. The city improved the sanitation assessment mechanism, laying emphasis on management of illegal slag transport and open-air barbecues. In 2014, the city’s law enforcement team seized 480 illegal transport vehicles and demolished 360 illegal construction sites. The city held mobilization meetings about the management of open-air barbecues, destroying 500 unprotected stoves. Many counties undertook improvement works. A total of 3.6 million sq m of illegal buildings were demolished, 970,000 tons of garbage and 530,000 flyers were cleared, 9,190 advertising boards were renovated, and construction of 51 demonstration streets was completed.

 

In 2014, 17 counties, cities, and districts invested 16 million yuan to enhance county management, purchasing more than 50 garbage cleaning vehicles, with the machine cleaning rate of main roads reaching over 50 percent. Combined with adjustment of administrative divisions, the city also promoted full coverage of urban digital management. A total of 1.06 million issues related to city management were accepted, 96 percent of which were dealt with. Shijiazhuang municipal city management committee was awarded for being a provincial civilized unit and for its safe construction work.

 

【Overview】In 2014, with improving landscapes and enhancing quality as principles, the city carried out landscaping projects on Yuhua Road and Sports North Street, upgrading five new streets and more than 70 small streets. Improvement landscaping projects on Huai'an West Road, 107 national highway south, 308 national highway and Hengjing line were completed. Construction on Shihuang and Shitai ecological landscape forests was also completed. The city strengthened the management of its green spaces. It made “Urban Landscape Management Assessment Approaches” to reward good behavior and fine bad behavior. It named 22 garden-style residential districts, five garden-style streets and 32 garden-style units. The city summed up the rules, research results and experience of the garden industry, publishing a series of books totaling 140,000 words, including “Management Guidelines of Shijiazhuang City Road Green Space Conservation”, “Plant Lists of Shijiazhuang Gardens” and “Urban Landscape Management Assessment Approaches”. Shijiazhuang strengthened the management of Hutuo River ecological green corridor and the garden museum, establishing management offices at the department level with financial funds or fixed subsidies. Hutuo River ecological green corridor management office hired 25 staff and the garden museum management office hired 20.

 

The city built seven parks and one square in 2014, and renovated 14 parks, covering an area of 54,000 sq m. A total of 103 park management projects were standardized, and nine illegal projects covering 11,000 sq m were demolished. Landscaping in counties got improved. In 2014, 796,000 trees and 1.4 million shrubs were planted in counties and cities under the jurisdiction of Shijiazhuang. Also, 94.8 km of greenways and 325.2 hectares of green space were built, and 53 parks were built or upgraded. Xinle city was named “provincial garden city” and Gaoyi county applied for “national garden city” in 2014. By the end of the year, the city had built additional green land of 7.1 million sq m, and planted 7.7 million trees and shrubs. The green coverage ratio reached 44.58 percent, and the per capita green area reached 15.19 sq m.