Hillside railway station hits green heights
Source: Xinhua |
February 24, 2013, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
LIJIANG City in southwest China's Yunnan Province has what it takes to be a tourist attraction - picturesque scenery and a rich cultural heritage.
Now, its new railway station, built on a hillside, is adding to Lijiang's fame.
A stark departure from downtown stations, the plan was controversial. However, it has since been praised as a model for efficient and innovative use of land.
It also highlights the country's critical need to protect farmland, the arena of a tug-of-war between urbanization and agricultural use.
Flat land, usually best suited to farming, accounts for only 4.2 percent of Lijiang's area.
Some 37 percent of its arable flat land had been converted for construction use, said He Jiafeng, chief engineer of Lijiang's city planning authority.
"A scarcity of farmland forced us to put the station on the hillside. We had no other choice," said He.
And indeed, many observers believe that China as a whole has no other choice.
Figures from the Ministry of Land and Resources show that China has registered a per capita arable land of 1.35 mu (900 square meters), less than half the world's average.
From 1997 to 2011, the country lost 124 million mu of farmland, while some 70 percent of the remaining 1.82 billion mu is medium and low-yield land, according to the ministry.
Chinese people consumed 520 million tonnes of grain in 2012, 2.7 percent of which was imported.
"Farmland has been squeezed by urbanization and rural projects, which has made it more difficult to protect," said land and resources minister Xu Shaoshi in a report to the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee in December.
The minister also noted the dire need to prevent soil from being polluted.
Xu pledged to continue a rigorous basic farmland protection system and more efforts to curb worsening soil pollution.
But lawmakers predict a continuing decline in farmland, due to pressures of urbanization and economic development.
Standing Committee memberHao Yidong suggested adopting Lijiang's practices nationwide.
Lijiang hillside station has helped conserve fertile land, according to local authorities.
There is great potential of developing hilly areas for building, according to figures from Yunnan's provincial land and resources bureau. These show that highland areas with an incline between eight and 25 degrees account for more than 47 percent of the total area.
Now, its new railway station, built on a hillside, is adding to Lijiang's fame.
A stark departure from downtown stations, the plan was controversial. However, it has since been praised as a model for efficient and innovative use of land.
It also highlights the country's critical need to protect farmland, the arena of a tug-of-war between urbanization and agricultural use.
Flat land, usually best suited to farming, accounts for only 4.2 percent of Lijiang's area.
Some 37 percent of its arable flat land had been converted for construction use, said He Jiafeng, chief engineer of Lijiang's city planning authority.
"A scarcity of farmland forced us to put the station on the hillside. We had no other choice," said He.
And indeed, many observers believe that China as a whole has no other choice.
Figures from the Ministry of Land and Resources show that China has registered a per capita arable land of 1.35 mu (900 square meters), less than half the world's average.
From 1997 to 2011, the country lost 124 million mu of farmland, while some 70 percent of the remaining 1.82 billion mu is medium and low-yield land, according to the ministry.
Chinese people consumed 520 million tonnes of grain in 2012, 2.7 percent of which was imported.
"Farmland has been squeezed by urbanization and rural projects, which has made it more difficult to protect," said land and resources minister Xu Shaoshi in a report to the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee in December.
The minister also noted the dire need to prevent soil from being polluted.
Xu pledged to continue a rigorous basic farmland protection system and more efforts to curb worsening soil pollution.
But lawmakers predict a continuing decline in farmland, due to pressures of urbanization and economic development.
Standing Committee memberHao Yidong suggested adopting Lijiang's practices nationwide.
Lijiang hillside station has helped conserve fertile land, according to local authorities.
There is great potential of developing hilly areas for building, according to figures from Yunnan's provincial land and resources bureau. These show that highland areas with an incline between eight and 25 degrees account for more than 47 percent of the total area.
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