The general office of the provincial government issued the implement plan for establishing characteristic towns in Hubei Province on Dec.20 and released the list of the first batch of 20 characteristic towns, including the “green food town” of Anfusi town in Zhijiang city and “sweet tangerine town” of Gaobazhou town in Yidu city.

　　According to the plan, the newly built characteristic towns, in principle, will invest more than 2 billion yuan in fixed asset (excluding commodity housing and commercial complex projects) within 3 years and upgrade over 1 billion yuan in characteristic towns with the proportion of investment in characteristic industry in fixed asset investment more than 70%. The characteristic town should meet standard of the national health town and forest town in Hubei province. The tourism section of the public service area or the characteristic towns should reach the construction standard of the national 3A level scenic area with full coverage of public WIFI and digital management.

　　Next year, special funds in Hubei province will be allocated every year to award towns that meets the requirements of characteristic towns. The characteristic towns that are chosen as the first provincial-level creation objects will be checked and accepted according to the annual image progress goals from 2018. The unqualified ones will be kicked out of the list, and the provincial bonus and supplementary funds and related supporting policies will be taken back. (Journalist Lei Chuntao)