Xixian New Area Aims for Modern Garden City

Xixian New Area became a dark horse

at its debut during the 16th Investment and Trade Forum for Cooperation between East and West China (ITFCEW) which was held from April 5 to 9 in Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province.

The amount of investment in the area totaled RMB 130.5 billion， with 29 projects signed during the fair. Among them， there are 27 contracted projects with RMB 110.5 billion of the total amount of and US$240 million of foreign direct investment.

“It’s time for the development of Xixian New Area and the plan is unfolding，” said Wang Jun， deputy secretary of the Xixian New District Committee and executive deputy director of the Management Committee.

According to Wang， Xixian New Area will be built as a modern garden city based on core parts， convenient transportation， graceful towns， urban agriculture， brilliant historical culture and urban characteristics. The area， based on the theory of “Garden City” of Howard and “Farmland City”， is expected to integrate urban and rural characteristics for harmony between city and countryside. It will become an ideal place where people could enjoy their pastoral life in the city.

Xixian New Area covers five new towns to be built which has their own features. The area is designed as a new area to lead the inland economic development of China， a historical cultural base to embody Qin and Han Dynasties’ civilization and an integrated construction demonstration area with cluster of emerging industries.

The area is positioned as a regional central city whose emphasis is on high and new technology， advanced equipment manufacturing， air-related industry， logistics， ecological and cultural tourism， and high-end modern service industry.

Last June， the Xixian New Area Master Plan was released by the People’s Government of Shaanxi. It signifies the start of the proposal to build the Area as a modern garden city and make it a new example for the urban construction of China in the future.

At the end of 2011， the Administrative Committee of Jinghe New Town of Xixian New Area and Xi’an Ronghua Group engaged in real estate and signed a strategic cooperation agreement—marking the launch of the new area development.

Xixian New Area lies between Xi’an and Xianyang， two of the province’s most prosperous cities. The area covers 882 sq km， with a population of 893，000. Currently， the area has a large agricultural population with only 23% of urban population. The weak infrastructure and backward economic development in the area are in urgent need of development.

The government of the area is planning to change the present situation in three years. This year is crucial for the change. The capital construction projects in 2012 will exceed RMB 100 billion in amount with the amount of the fixed investment totaling to RMB 45.2 billion.

This year the government’s focus includes construction of affordable housing， infrastructure， ecological environment and attracting investment.

Xixian New Area will build 18 ecological farmland towns with 28 communities and develop the urban agriculture featured as ecological agriculture， leisure agriculture and export-oriented agriculture.

For the allocation of 700， 000 farmers in the area， “The construction of affordable housing is under way and the modern intensive agriculture in the future will train them to be industrial workers in the tertiary industry such as cultural tourism and service，” Li Zhaoe， deputy director and chief planner of Xixian New Area Development and Constructive Administrative Committee， told China’s Foreign Trade. In 2012， the construction of 28，000 affordable houses with the investment of RMB 9.26 billion will be initiated. “That is also helpful for the improvement of the backward investment environment here，” said Wang Jun.

This year the largest investment will go to infrastructure construction， especially traffic network. The amount is expected to be RMB 8.77 billion.

In addition， the new area will remold the three ecological corridors of Weihe River， Jinghe River and Fenghe River to make them green.