Yichang，a capital of hydropower，is now striding forward to build itself into a “clean, green and bright, beautiful, quiet and smooth”city.

On May 13th, the Municipal Government decided to implement the city renovation project around the entrance passages of the ports, freeways, airport and railway stations, the buildings and road greenbelts on both sides of the main tourist routes in city proper to further improve the living environment and the image of the city. The renovation project will be completed within three years.

The renovation projects bring great benefits to the citizens.

On May 21st, the renovation of the facade decorations of the No.166 building in Yanjiang Avenue was completed, with the clean white wall contrasting finely with the dark-gray aluminum grille. Looking at the new dress of this old building, Dong Yuancheng, a resident in this building said joyfully: “Thanks to the renovation, our living environment has been improved, and our life has become more comfortable.”

Xu Wenjing, the Deputy Director of The Housing Bureau in Wujiagang District said: “Over one million yuan has been invested to renovate the facade of this building by the Municipal and District Governments. At the same time, we have also cooperated with the constructors to improve the old infrastructures by the request of 26 families here. To solve these problems, we have added a pipeline for smoke exhaust and set waterproofing and heat preserving materials on the whole roof. Besides, we have also reconstructed public restroom systematically. Later, we will harden the road, green the spare areas and set up parking space combining with the renovation of mixed community.”

Officers said that the other old buildings in mixed community within the scope of renovation should be done as the No. 166 building in Yanjiang Avenue funded by the government.

122 Buildings to Be Renovated This Year

According to Lu Feng, the Head of the Urban Renovation Office, this year the renovation project will mainly focus on “Four Entrance Passages” and “Seven Lines”. The seven lines are Yunji Road, Yanjiang Road, Jucheng Road-Baisha Road, Chengdong Avenue, Fazhang Avenue, Dongshan Avenue and Airport Road. This year, totally 122 buildings are under the renovation plan, 35 buildings need to be brightened and 6000-meter-long landscape-type enclosures or high standard enclosures of 30 buildings under construction or would be under construction.

To ensure the success of the renovation, the Urban Renovation Office has compiled The Main Technical Points of Renovation Work, setting standards for the renovation of such items as the facade of the buildings, signboards, lighting, etc. To be specific, 118 out of the relevant 122 buildings need renovating and 4 are to be demolished. As for those node buildings over 2000 square meters, their new images are to be attained by painting their facades, changing the windows and doors and renovating their advertising signboards, night view lighting. For those buildings of 1000-2000 square meters, which are in relatively poor conditions, the renovation work contains changing their facades and their exterior doors and windows. Those buildings under 1000 square meters, which are in relatively better conditions, are to be renovated mainly through cleaning or refreshing their facades, and through regulating the installation of air-conditioners and signboards. In regard to night view lighting, the clearance lights and reflecting lights of high buildings will play a dominant role, supplemented by those road lamps.

Strive to Further the Renovation of the City

The Leading Group of the Urban Renovation has established the Implementation Plan for Urban Renovation in 2013, according to which, the ongoing renovation work of the building facades, the installation of high quality fences and the lighting projects are to be finished by the end of the year in two steps, with September 15 being the first time node and Dec. 31 the deadline.

At the first phase, all the important projects, accounting for 50% of the annual task, are to be completed. At the second phase, all the renovation projects of “Seven Lines” should be finished.

According to the statistics provided by the Renovation Office, so far 20 buildings are under renovation, accounting for 16% of the annual plan; 20 fence installation projects are being carried out, accounting for 60% of the annual plan. And actually five fence installation projects, including the WuJiagang Elementary School on Baisha Road, have been completed. Six lighting projects have been completed, accounting for 17% of the annual plan.

To ensure the smooth progress of the urban renovation, the Leading Group of the Urban Renovation decides to take into account the renovation work of the different districts of the city, the Yichang New & Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone and those municipal bureaus of administration when assessing their annual achievements. And the related assessment measures have been made out by the Office and put into practice. The whole renovation work will subject to the examination of the Supervision Office of Yichang Municipal Party Committee and the Supervision Office of Yichang Municipal Government. In the end, the two offices will circulate a notice of commendation for those relevant units and individuals of remarkable achievements but a notice of criticism or even punishment for those units and individuals failing to achieved the goals, for those of poor leadership and suspicious of buck passing and those disputing over trifles.