The period of industry’s rapid development has witnessed the most fixed asset investment and the largest building scale in the history of Dongxihu district. In recent years, the infrastructure construction of the town has been accelerated, the environment innovation has been done with great efforts and the enormous changes in the town’s outlook happened with road network and communication as the emphases in the whole district.
Before 1992, Wujiashan avenue, as the core of Dongxihu district, was only a country fair laid out along a narrow street with builtup area less than 5 km2. There is not a single high-rise building above seven floors, nor hotels, emporiums, and amusement parks. The main roads were mostly paved by crushed stones. A host community in Wujiashan said, comparing the present with the past: in the past, when you ride on a beaten up bike on the bumpy and rough sandstone road, the frightened old hen flapped its wings and brought dust blowing on the face, while nowadays I take my grandchildren walking on the stainless pavement covered with encaustic bricks and enjoy the mattress like trees, grass and beautiful flowers.
In recent years, an amount of more than RMB 200 million has been injected for public construction in Wujiashan district. Newly-built and reconstructed greening covers an area of over 3 million square meters. And parks, artificial lakes and recreation plaza with a total area of over 200 hectares have been built. Returning land for farming to forestry, return farming land for lake and project displaying mountains and showing green scenery have been carried out so that the beautiful new town of town hidden in forest, street in the green tree and grass, buildings in the flowers and People in the scenery has been taken shape.
In the past, there were more than 100 natural villages scattered in the Jinyinhu district, where villagers lived in thatch cottage and drank underground water and the living environment was extremely miserable. In 2003, about 2000 households of villagers in the village have moved to four newly-built residential quarters by the district Party committee and district government so that villagers can enjoy standardized residential buildings, schools, stores and parks and become the urban residents.
In recent years, Wuhan city carried forward the Action plan for building homestead, and gave priority to the key part in village for reconstruction step by step. In this action, Dongxihu district has hewed out an another way to opening up to the outside, built the new countryside by market force and introduced a lot of powerful enterprises in succession such as Baibuting, Sanjiang Group, Fuxing Huiyu, etc. into Dongxihu district, and built residential quarters and new buildings for farmers and broken through the funds bottleneck of rural urbanization so as to accelerate the process of integration of urban and rural areas.
Environment is the competitive power as well as productive force. The district Party Committee and Government regard production and living conditions of the mass as the foundation of establishing harmonious society and strengthen on policy guiding and funds support and accelerate the infrastructure construction in rural areas. At present, tap water in the whole district covers up to 90%, realizing the village-to-village road, telephone and broadcast television in administrative villages, and broadband access Internet is available in seventy-five agriculture units. In 2006, the government has invested more than RMB 30 million into the reconstruction of farmland water conservancy facilities and effective irrigation area of farmland in the whole district accounts for above 90%.
The establishment of social security system connecting rural and urban area is an important content in promoting the integration of rural and urban area. During the tenth five-year plan period, basic pension insurance for farm employees had been accelerated deeply. The number of the insured employees is 48,000, and RMB 91,720,000 yuan of basic pension insurance money is granted. On the average, each person increases income of RMB 121 yuan monthly. At the same time, new type rural cooperation medical care system has been set up with comprehensive arrangement for serious illness as the principal part. Individual, collective and government shall raise funds to set up the medical insurance for farmers and workers, of which the individual financial contribution part of persons aged above 70 years (including 70 years) shall be borne by district finance, and that of low income household, household enjoying the Five Guarantees and orphans, widows and the disabled shall be borne by the farm. This system has effectively relieved the problem of difficult access to medical service. Up to now, 96% of farmers and workers in the district have taken part in the insurance. Yan Puliu, the head of the district, has a clear train of thought in the blueprint of modern agricultural development in Dongxihu district as sketched: Center around the leading industry, highlight fineness and deep-processing, and support and strengthen the leading enterprises with strong correlation and driving force and high economic efficiency; quicken the construction of service platform for market-oriented agriculture and its informatization and establish the service system of agricultural product logistics integrating wholesale trade of agricultural products, display and exhibition sale, sample delivery and orders, logistics and distribution and electronic settlement. Develop ecological agriculture and cycle agriculture, promote the zero discharge project of cultivation in a certain scale, and improve the level of agriculture standardized production. Realize the connection of lake and water system, build the colorful landscape belts, and forge the distinctive brand of tourism of different themes like personal experience tour in farmhouse and rural scene tour. During the eleventh five-year plan period, great efforts will be made to build Dongxihu district into a demonstration zone of modern urban agriculture.
