Hangzhou seeks common prosperity, quality growth in new 5-year plan
Hangzhou has drafted a five-year plan (2021-2025) for high-quality development and for Zhejiang Province to become an example of common prosperity.
The draft plan, announced on July 29, was developed after the central government issued a guideline on June 10 to build Zhejiang Province into a demonstration zone to achieve common prosperity.
The new plan sets out a solid foundation for the pursuit of common prosperity. As a key indicator of balanced development, the income ratio between urban and rural residents in Zhejiang fell to 1.96:1 last year, much lower than the national level.
Yuan Jiajun, Party secretary of Zhejiang Province, said common prosperity is not only a concept of social development but also of social change marked by narrowing the gap between regions, urban and rural areas and in people's incomes.
Hangzhou, the provincial capital of Zhejiang, could set an example in reducing the gap between urban and rural areas and achieving common prosperity.
According to the five-year plan, the city's per capita gross domestic product, essentially a measure of average income, will reach 180,000 yuan (US$27,828) by 2025, and overall labor productivity will be 270,000 yuan.
Hangzhou government has been striving for years to build itself into "a city with the strongest digital economy in China." The main revenue from digital business is expected to hit 2 trillion yuan within five years.
Hangzhou will spare no efforts in narrowing the gap between different regions. The per capita disposable income between downtown citizens and residents in Fuyang, Lin'an, Tonglu, Chun'an and Jiande will be lowered to 4:3 in 2025.
Highrises are located in Hangzhou's Binjiang District where various incentives for talent and promising projects are offered.
In efforts to build an olive-shaped society, which means a society with a large middle class, a small elite and a small lower class, family numbers with annual income between 200,000 yuan and 600,000 yuan will account for 50 percent. The unemployment rate will be controlled below 5 percent. The income ratio between urban and rural residents in Hangzhou is expected to fall to 1.7:1.
In a bid to enhance public service levels, the infant and toddler nursery numbers per 1,000 people will increase to 4.6. About 73 percent of young people will receive higher education.
The government will explore more innovative medical services, and the average life expectancy is expected to reach 83.88. Basic old-age insurance will cover all people by 2025.
Culture highlights include protection of relics and building public cultural facilities. The government continues to build cultural venues in villages and hamlets for performances, public readings and study. The average area of public cultural space for every 10,000 people will rise to 5,000 square meters.
A one-hour public transport circle is scheduled to be established in nine districts and counties in Hangzhou within five years. Also, local government will keep optimizing the ecological environment, taking solid steps toward the goals of achieving the peak in carbon emissions and carbon neutrality.
A variety of products from poverty alleviation regions are on sale in Hangzhou during the first pro-consumption festival to aid poverty alleviation.
Hangzhou is planning to participate in construction of the G60 High-Tech Corridor. It will join hands with Shanghai and Anhui Province in sectors like the introduction and cultivation of high-caliber technological projects, solutions to common difficulties within industry and research and development of new products.
Hangzhou will further cooperate with neighboring cities in Zhejiang Province, including Shaoxing, Huzhou and Jiaxing. Meanwhile, the city will keep helping less-developed areas in western Zhejiang's hilly areas, in line with the "Coordination Between Mountain and Sea" plan launched by Zhejiang government in 2001.
Over the past 20 years, Hangzhou has expanded its strategic influence and forged new business partnerships with Quzhou and Lishui cities in western Zhejiang.
According to the five-year plan, it will carry out more economic cooperations with impoverished areas in western China by allocating more technological, industrial and innovative resources and talent.
Since the Chinese government initiated the "pairing assistance" program in the 1990s to help poverty-stricken regions, Hangzhou has been supporting the development of 11 cities and 47 counties across eight provinces.
A new "pairing assistance" team comprised of 39 Hangzhou civil servants and professionals was sent to the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze and Guangyuan City in southwest China's Sichuan Province on June 1. They will coordinate with local governments to improve social development.
