CHINA: China is seeking to build an environmentally friendly city on the Dongtan wetlands with hopes it will become a showcase for other cities

China is dreaming of building an eco-friendly and self-sustainable city of the future in Dongtan on the eastern shore of Chongming Island, 90 minutes by ferry from the coast of China's financial capital Shanghai. Covered with reeds and marshes, this undeveloped economic backwater draws a stark contrast with the booming skyscrapers and unrelenting construction across the shore in Shanghai. The Dongtan wetland is famous for its natural environment and a favourite for bird-watchers and city tourists. This natural habitat is an accurate reflection of the agricultural nature of the Island, much of which is covered by farms which grow vegetables and breed fish and crabs which are sold in Shanghai. But all this is about to change with plans to turn Dongtan into an eco-city. The Chinese government is working to make city a model for others to mimic in the quest to build one of the world's first eco-friendly and self-sustainable cities. Chongming is the third largest island in China and sits on the mouth of the Yangtze river. British engineering consultancy Arup, who is overseeing the development, says it aims to make Dongtan a multi-faceted residential and commercial area designed to co-exist with the island's wetlands ecosystem. But environmentalists are skeptical that Dongtan will be any different from other Chinese cities, mostly because they think its very creation could destroy an important ecosystem. Covering a tenth of the island, Chongming's wetlands have been under pressure from over-grazing and excessive fishing for years. China has more than 65.9 million hectares (165 million acres) of wetlands, accounting for 10 percent of the world's total. Yet less than half of them are given any official protection. Other fears are that the project will merely turn Dongtan into another refuge for the population spillover from Shanghai. But Arup's Dongtan team manager and senior architect Dong Shanfeng dismisses claims the local population will be missing out. He says the plan is to make Dongtan a viable living space for people of all income levels and professions. "In the plan for Dongtan, we have made provisions for people of various occupations. You can see that the entire city of Dongtan will be a solution for all. For example, in Dongtan, we will make sure it will have a commercial development that is beneficial to all. First of all, businesses will be willing to move to Dongtan. And here, there will be also be what we call a good mix of residential developments. In this residential development, there will also be a good mix of people earning different levels of income. So as to say, there will be job opportunities for low and high income earners here and this will ensure a harmonious society," he said. Today, signs of modernity already dot the island. Entering Chongming's Baozhen port, the and-white striped chimney of a coal-powered energy plant looms over the horizon, its smoke wafting westwards along the shore. A massive tunnel and bridge project that will link Chongming Shanghai and the northern Jiangsu provinceis already underway But Arup promises the Dongtan project will be environmentally sensitive and sustainable, citing a plan to re-use housing for construction workers for low-income families. Dongtan will be seperated form the wetlands by a five-kilometre-wide buffer zone. The company says farmwater will be recycled, rather than drained into the Yangtze as it is now. Dong adds that Dongtan is a project of symbolic importance to the Chinese. "What we have done here in Dongtan is not a one-off. Dongtan is a small city, but it serves as a good model for the city of Shanghai, for the whole of China and even the world. Even after its successful construction, we will need a long time in its operational stages to gradually develop it into a self-sustainable city. But this should be a challenge for all cities in the world. So for Dongtan, its symbolism as a viable model far outweighs its operational success. Of course, we can say that during China's rapid economic growth, if there are many more projects like Dongtan, what we have done here today will be of value," he said. The Dongtan project is still awaiting approval from various government agencies . But plans to build a smaller version of it before Shanghai hosts the 2010 World Expo are in the pipeline. Arup believes the city could be up and running in 20 to 30 years' time. Today, Dongtan is still the rural island home where few know about plans for a new city. "If they take back the land, we cannot do anything. I hope they will give us some form of monetary compensation because the opening of this farm and all our facilities here were invested with our own money," said 63-year-old farm worker Mr. Tong. China has 16 of the world's 20 most polluted cities, their rapid growth fuelled by years of breakneck economic expansion largely at the expense of the environment. An estimated 8.5 million people leave the countryside each year, further driving China's rapid urbanisation and loss of farmland to build houses, roads and factories.

ITN Source | March 24, 2007

Tags:. .dismisses. .stark. .occupations. .excessive. .citing