The official website of the Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China recently released the “Announcement of the Evaluation Results of the Systematic Promotion of Sponge City Construction Demonstration in 2021”. It was jointly issued by the Economic Construction Department of the Ministry of Finance, the Urban Construction Department of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the Planning Department of the Ministry of Water Resources. The top 20 cities will be identified as the first batch of sponge city demonstration ones. Among them, Yueyang won the honorary title of the model city in nationwide systematic and comprehensive promotion of sponge city construction and will receive 1 billion yuan of national subsidy funds. Yueyang Mayor Li Aiwu attended the oral defense meeting.

One hundred and sixty-three kilometers of the Yangtze River coastline and more than 60% of the waters of the Dongting Lake are in the territory of Yueyang. It is the only one city built along the Yangtze River in Hunan Province and the last pass of the Hunan water system into the river. It bears major political responsibilities for the water environment of the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake. In recent years, Yueyang government has resolutely implemented Xi Jinping’s thoughts on ecological civilization, accelerated the construction of sponge cities, and adopted a series of hard-core measures.

Up to now, Yueyang’s ecological environment restoration has continued to improve, 32 black and odorous water bodies have achieved “long-term cleanliness”, and 26 waterlogging points in the urban area have been completely treated. The quality of the city has been continuously improved. We saw a city with pristine water, green banks, and beautiful scenery.

Source: en.yueyang.gov.cn