The Hefei People's Government in Anhui province made an agreement on August 26 to work towards making Hefei a national demonstration area of ecological civilization and one of China's most beautiful provincial capitals.

Officials said that realizing this goal requires a new development pattern, in addition to exceptional efforts in water treatment, forest maintenance, air pollution control and solid waste treatment.

Green belts will be built alongside eight rivers in the city. More importantly, six new forest parks, each over 10 square kilometers, are included in the plan. Also, all new residential communities in Hefei city will have green areas covering at least 40 percent.

According to Wu Cunrong, standing committee member of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee and Party chief of Hefei, Hefei's ecological parks will start emphasizing improved land use efficiency and green coverage.

As an effort to conserve energy, Wu suggested utilizing more natural wind and solar.

As for water and air pollution treatment, Hefei is implementing the strictest sewage discharge standards and step-by-step limits on 'yellow-labeled vehicles' (vehicles that fail to meet the European No 1 standard for exhaust emissions).

Edited by Michael Thai, Huang Pei