Planning authorities in Shenzhen have earmarked about 1,100 square kilometers as ecological protection areas off-limits to developments. 

In a development plan for 2003-2005 released by the planning and land resources bureaus Monday, city planners listed more than half the city’s total area of 2,020 square kilometers as protected lands.

Only 570 square kilometers are open to development in the coming years, according to the plan.

Control of industrial, commercial and housing developments is aimed at preserving an ecological balance that is necessary for the city to become an international metropolitan, planners say.

In addition to four seashore holiday resorts, nearly 20 new parks are planned in the 2003-2005 period in what the planners say is a human-oriented plan. The plan also includes projects to improve the traffic and environment in Luohu commercial areas and Shangbu industrial zone.

The plan calls for more than 350 traffic, utilities, industrial and infrastructure projects in the coming years that would upgrade Shenzhen’s competitiveness and improve its investment environment.

The projects, which will cost billions of yuan, would also provide impetus for the local economy.

(Shenzhen Daily August 12, 2003)