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Poor county wastes funds on World Heritage listing
By Zhang Xuanchen |
September 27, 2010, Monday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
BUREAUCRATS in a poor county in central Hunan Province are facing criticism for spending 450 million yuan (US$67 million) to get the name of a local mountain on UNESCO World Heritage list while many local families still live in poverty.
The initial joy quickly faded as people in Xinning County learned that their authorities had exhausted all public funds to put the Langshan Mountain on the World Heritage list. Even worse, they also borrowed 155 million yuan from bank at a time when the county's total fiscal revenue was just about 200 million yuan.
Xinning has long been listed as a recipient for poverty relief aid and relied on government support to cover more than 80 percent of its expenditure, today's China Youth Daily reported.
In 2006, the county officials decided to apply for the World Heritage listing as one of the six areas with the unique China Danxia Landform. The county tried all means to raise money, including public funds, private donations, bank loans and government aid.
It obtained bank loans after numerous rounds of negotiation and even mortgaged some of its lands, the newspaper said.
The initial joy quickly faded as people in Xinning County learned that their authorities had exhausted all public funds to put the Langshan Mountain on the World Heritage list. Even worse, they also borrowed 155 million yuan from bank at a time when the county's total fiscal revenue was just about 200 million yuan.
Xinning has long been listed as a recipient for poverty relief aid and relied on government support to cover more than 80 percent of its expenditure, today's China Youth Daily reported.
In 2006, the county officials decided to apply for the World Heritage listing as one of the six areas with the unique China Danxia Landform. The county tried all means to raise money, including public funds, private donations, bank loans and government aid.
It obtained bank loans after numerous rounds of negotiation and even mortgaged some of its lands, the newspaper said.
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