"Qindong Water Town" chaos in the lake
China News Weekly reporter/Zhou Qunfeng
Weinan City, located in the eastern part of Shaanxi Province and at the confluence of the three rivers of Huangwei, Luo and Luo, has become the focus of public opinion because of the "Qindong Water Town".
"All localities and departments should draw lessons from the'Qindong Water Town' and the lakes from the actual landscaping." This is a notice jointly issued by the seven departments of the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-rural Development, Reform and Development, and Finance on April 20 this year The most talked about. The article entitled "Opinions on Preventing Deviating from Actual Landscaping and Promoting Lake Construction and Promoting High-Quality Development in Urban Construction" puts forward: It is strictly forbidden to blindly circulate water for greening under the banner of building an "ecological civilization", transplant large trees for high-cost greening, and dig Hudui Mountain landscaping, destroying the natural ecological background.
The construction of "Qindong Water Village" is the urban development concept proposed by Weinan in 2016, and also a city business card that the city is trying to build. As an agricultural city with low economic development level and drought-prone, Weinan raised funds through PPP to build lakes and landscaping. Several projects have invested hundreds of millions, billions or even billions of yuan.
In early May, reporters from China News Weekly visited Linwei District, High-tech Zone, Dali County, Weinan City and other places and found that some of the related projects were not approved first; during the construction process, some of them destroyed the natural ecology. Encroaching on cultivated land and wetlands, affecting groundwater and other issues. At present, many projects have been suspended or filled, and related supporting projects have been demolished.
Occupy 16,000 mu of cultivated land
In January 2020, at the press conference of the Inspector of Cultivated Land Protection 2019 held by the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ma Sulan, Deputy Director of the General Office of the National Natural Resources Inspector, named the criticism: Shaohua Lake Water Conservancy Scenic Area Project in Huazhou District, Weinan City, Shaanxi Province. 2041.50 mu, of which 139.77 mu is permanent basic farmland. This is just the tip of the iceberg. In March 2020, the “Report of Shaanxi Provincial Department of Natural Resources on Promoting the Construction of Rule of Law” mentioned that in 2019, the Department instructed Weinan City to investigate and deal with the illegal occupation of 16,000 mu of cultivated land in the construction of Qindong Water Village.
The Xihai Park project is located in the Hi-tech Zone of Weinan City. It is the first phase of the waterfront West District project on the south bank of the Weihe River. "Weinan Daily" reported that the park plans to construct eight major functional areas, such as the central axis area of the water feature, the Weihai area of the West Sea, the children's activity area, the water village experience area, the ecological recreation area, the creative cultural area, the business and leisure area, and the water feature area. 2.16 billion yuan.
The so-called "West Sea" is actually just an artificial lake. A reporter from China News Weekly saw on a display board in Xihai Park that the project was identified as a key project by the Weinan Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government and was included in the top ten of the top ten people's livelihood projects in 2017.
However, this "first of the top ten people's livelihood projects" project has caused a large number of landless farmers.
"The land acquisition scope of the Xihai Park Wetland Project involves five or six villages such as Mutun Village and Xiqingtun." A village cadre in Xiqingtun Village, Baiyang Street Office, High-tech Zone, Weinan City said that the first phase of the Xihai Park Project at the end of 2016 involved More than 4,000 acres of land will be expanded to more than 10,000 acres in the second phase of early 2017. "The first phase has been completed, and the second phase has not been completed so far."
Several villagers in Mutun Village told China News Weekly that in the second phase of land acquisition, in May 2017, thousands of acres of wheat had turned yellow, and it was almost time to harvest. One day, four or fifty loaders came suddenly, pushing all the wheat down. The villagers still complain: "Dare to dare to say anything. It has been three years since the land acquisition, and these areas are still barren."
A village cadre said that the village has a population of nearly 3,000. It turned out that each person had an average of more than one mu of land, for a total of five or six thousand mu of land. In recent years, because of land acquisition to build sports centers, highways, Xihai Park, etc., the village now has only a few hundred acres of land.
However, the compensation for land acquisition has been delayed, and the villagers have great opinions on this. On July 3, 2018, a villager from Mutun Village left a message on the official website of Weinan High-tech Zone's "Leader's Box" to inquire about compensation for land acquisition in Xihai Park. According to the report, the land requisitioned by Baiyang Subdistrict Office is only 28,000 yuan per mu, while the price east of Weiqing Road is 80,000 yuan per mu.
Three days later, the Baiyang Sub-district Office replied that the Xihai Park Wetland Project involves more than 3,300 acres of land in the first and second phases of the Mutun Village of the Baiyang Sub-district Office. The compensation standards for land acquisition are based on the compensation standards for land acquisition and demolition of the Xihai Park Wetland Project in Weinan City Implementation, the land compensation is 28,000 yuan/mu (including 11,200 yuan/mu for land compensation and 16,800 yuan/mu for resettlement subsidies), which shall be paid in three years. The land compensation for the first year has been paid to the village team in full at the time of land requisition. Now our street has fully charged the land compensation for the second year into the Mutun Village account. The cadres of the current village group are actively making land compensation Redeem work.
However, many villagers in Mutun Village told China News Weekly that the 8,000 yuan for the third year has not been issued. On May 18, a person in charge of the management committee of Weinan High-tech Zone responded to China News Weekly that after verifying with Baiyang Subdistrict Office, the compensation standards for land requisition of this subdistrict office strictly follow the standards of the management committee. This year 1 In the middle of the month, the third land demolition compensation fee has been paid to the village. Due to the epidemic situation, the funds have not been sent to the villagers in time. "Before June 15, all the funds will be paid in place."
3000 mu of Yellow River wetland destroyed
"All localities and relevant departments should strictly follow the "Landscape, Forest, Lake and Grass is a Community of Life"... Fully demonstrate the environmental feasibility of the project, ensure ecological flow, maintain the natural form of rivers and lakes to the greatest extent, and maintain the health of rivers and lakes, ecosystem functions and biology Diversity." In April 2020, Shaanxi Province put forward the above requirements in the "Opinions on Preventing Deviating from Actual Landscaping and Promoting High-quality Urban Construction".
However, many so-called "ecological water system construction projects" in Weinan have abandoned and destroyed the original ecological wetlands and started to build artificial landscapes. "The Madonna Lake project creates an artificial lake surface, and nearly 3,000 acres of wetland have changed its original appearance" is a typical case.
On May 13, 2019, the official WeChat official account of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment released the article "The Shaanxi Yellow River Wetland Nature Reserve is not reformed effectively, and the illegal development and construction issues are outstanding", which discloses the illegal development and construction of Shengmu Lake in Heyang County, Weinan City.
Shaanxi Yellow River Wetland Provincial Nature Reserve is located in Tongguan County, Dali County, Heyang County and Hancheng City of Weinan City. It is an important post for the migration of domestic migratory birds in my country and the main habitat for internationally protected migratory birds in the Midwest. In 2016, the first round of the Central Environmental Protection Inspector pointed out that there are illegal reclamation and sand mining problems in the Hancheng section of the reserve, and asked to stop the occupation and restore the wetland ecology. After the investigation, it was found that there were still illegal development and construction projects of Shengmu Lake in Heyang County and illegal cultivation of rice in Dali County.
The article said: "Weinan City and Heyang County Party Committees and Governments did not attract much attention, nor did they study to take effective measures to stop it, but instead listed Shengmuhu Tourism Development and Construction as a major construction project in Weinan City and Heyang County in 2017. Advancement. The project caused damage to nearly 3000 acres of wetlands in the protected area."
From November 9th to 10th, 2018, when the Central Second Ecological Environmental Protection Inspectorate “looked back” at the rectification, it was discovered that from 2016 to 2017, Shaanxi Qiachuan Tourism Development Co., Ltd. was still constructing Lake Madonna tourism in the reserve. project.
According to public information, in October 2015, the three units of the Heyang County Chachuan Scenic Resort Management Committee, Weinan City Investment Company and Shaanxi Hongye Co., Ltd. jointly established the Shaanxi Chachuan Scenic Resort Development Company. According to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, “Without obtaining the relevant procedures of land resources, environmental protection, etc., and without obtaining the approval of the Yellow River Wetland Provincial Nature Reserve Management Department, in April 2016, Shaanxi Qiachuan Scenic Resort Development Company started Unauthorized large-scale development and construction of the Notre Dame Lake tourism project in the Yellow River Wetland Nature Reserve."
The inspector found that the project damaged wetlands, artificial lakes, and plans to build auxiliary facilities such as water parks, beach areas, Notre Dame Island, Muying Ancient Ferry, etc., which seriously affected the migration of migratory birds and seriously violated the 20th of the "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Nature Reserves Nine Articles "Prohibiting the establishment of visits and tourism projects that are inconsistent with the protection direction of nature reserves".
The Ministry of Ecology and Environment discovered through satellite remote sensing and site survey in October 2018 that the tourism project has formed an artificial "lake surface" of about 2,500 acres in the protected area, and a "lake island" has been built in the middle. More than 400 acres of low-lying pits were invaded and buried on site.
He was inspected twice and still did not sound the “alarm bell” for the main leaders of Weinan City and Hechuan County. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment criticized in the case analysis: "Weinan City and Heyang County are not determined to rectify the illegal development of the Notre Dame Lake tourism project. In July 2017, they ordered the project to stop construction and still hope to make it legal after the completion of the procedures. Follow-up In the restoration and governance work, the two-level party committees and the government and related departments did not act indiscriminately. Without organizing the investigation and evaluation of ecological damage, they decided to take the so-called natural restoration method for the damaged wetland ecology and leave it alone. It directly led to the stagnation of the restoration and management of 3,000 mu of Yellow River wetland."
"Great generous" water town plan
Weinan's desire to build a "water town" has a long history.
On December 27, 2011, in the report of the Fourth Party Congress, Weinan City mentioned the creation of a national high-efficiency eco-economic demonstration zone and the construction of "Guanzhong Water Village". On July 19, 2012, the official website of the Weinan Municipal Government published an article entitled "Weinan plans to invest more than 70 billion yuan to build "Guanzhong Water Village"". The plan includes: water resources allocation project, flood control security project, urban and rural water supply project, farmland irrigation and drainage project, water conservation ecological project, water surface landscape project, etc. The total investment is estimated to be 71.59 billion yuan, and the planned total construction period is 9 years. By 2020, Weinan will become a "Guanzhong Water Village".
An insider close to the Weinan City Planning Bureau told China News Weekly that some contents of the plan are not scientific, and the funding gap is large. In addition, the main leadership of Weinan left soon after, which led to the implementation of the plan.
A few years later, driven by the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government's "flexible water management, water retention in Guanzhong, and water rejuvenation in Shaanxi", Weinan once again proposed the creation of a "water town". On December 13, 2016, Weinan City proposed at the fifth party congress: adhere to ecological priority, green development, implement comprehensive management of mountains, waters, forests, lakes and lakes, promote the harmonious coexistence of man and nature, build a "Qindong Water Village", green and beautify Qin East earth. This is also the first time that Weinan officials have publicly proposed the concept of "Qindong Water Village".
Weinan's ecological water system plan is a "big hand" plan, consisting of a seemingly large and complete system: First, relying on the advantages of the natural river system in the country and the backbone of irrigation and drainage channels, the "four horizontal and five vertical" Ecological water system; the second is to use abundant passenger water resources, retain flood resources, divert water into the city, construct the urban water network and water surface landscape in the main urban area of Weinan and 10 county cities; the third is to use the unique terrain of Weibei low-lying waterlogged areas, Focus on drainage in rural areas, construct lakes and flood ponds, and restore and protect wetland resources.
The "Qindong Water Town" plan began in 2016 and will soon be rolled out in Weinan. Several lake and landscape projects were launched in 2016~2017, covering almost all counties (cities and districts). On August 30, 2017, the Weinan Municipal Government officially stated that water conservancy construction continued to maintain a good momentum of high investment, and won a total of 5.85 billion yuan in water resources from China, ranking first in the province's 10 cities and completed more than 9 billion water investment yuan.
An entrepreneur in Shaanxi Province told China News Weekly that Weinan’s economy is underdeveloped, and even many road greening projects need to be funded through the PPP model. The main funds for the above lake and landscape projects are also PPP models.
It is worth noting that in 2017 Weinan City suffered a drought. On February 24, 2017, the website of the Ministry of Civil Affairs reported that Weinan City, Shaanxi Province suffered a drought. According to statistics at 9 o'clock on February 24, 416,000 people were affected, the crop area affected was 395,000 hectares, and the direct economic loss was more than 48 million yuan.
However, during the drought year, Weinan's enthusiasm for making lakes and landscaping continued unabated. According to Huashang.com, on February 13, 2017, Linwei District held the 2017 project commencement ceremony. Construction of the Nanhe River Remediation and Nanhu Park projects will start, and construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2017. Nanhu Park is a key project in Weinan City, covering an area of 810,000 square meters and costing 400 million yuan.
A real estate developer in Shaanxi Province was working on a real estate project near Nanhu Park. He told China News Weekly that at that time, the construction period of the Nanhu Park project was in a hurry, with 24 hours of construction, and the slag trucks shuttled back and forth. Some residents said that in order to build Nanhu Park as soon as possible, the local even moved hundreds of graves. When a reporter from China News Weekly visited Nanhu Park, he found that on a park’s project briefing board, he said, “To build the park, more than 500 graves were moved.”
Many insiders said that some of the water resources of the landscape water system created by lake and landscape need to be recharged by drawing groundwater or calling reservoir water sources, agricultural irrigation water and other water sources. This was a huge contrast to the reality of crops lacking water at that time. .
Rectification "one dismantled"
Issues related to the Qindong Water Township attracted the attention of the central high level very early.
On November 7, 2019, the National Natural Resources Inspector's Inspector's Opinion stated that in January 2019, the "Sampling of Domestic Dynamics" reflected two consecutive issues in Weinan City, Shaanxi Province. "Dongshui Township" issue, General Secretary Xi Jinping made important instructions.
Since then, a "Qindong Water Town" problem remediation storm has begun to spread in layers in Shaanxi. In September 2019, the Shaanxi Provincial Special Project Management and Mobilization Work was held in Xi'an. An official of the Weinan Municipal Party Committee told China News Weekly that in order to rectify the "Qindong Water Town" project, Shaanxi Province, Weinan City and related counties (cities, districts) have set up special classes for rectification work.
An official of the county party committee of Dali County who participated in the rectification meeting of the relevant project of “Qindong Water Township” in the county told China News Weekly that Dali County’s special work team is composed of land, housing, water and other departments. The nature of each project is different, and the existing problems are also different. The provinces and cities require us to rectify in accordance with some requirements of the central government and the provinces and cities."
The official said that the special classes in the province are also guiding the rectification in a unified manner. "After Dali County first reported the rectification plan and approved it by the superior, we will implement it step by step. At the end of 2019, Dali County's rectification plan and results were summarized. The information is reported to the province."
In December 2019, Dali County issued a tender announcement for the rectification and demolition of Qindong Water Town. The project will remove the elevation of the production road south of the east and west dike of Tongzhou Lake and the middle dike, and demolish all the buildings above the ground in the area south of the dike (including pumping stations, fences of recreational fields, sports equipment, The racecourse, the bridge connecting the Sun and Moon Lake, toilets and beer squares, swimming pools and other nearby lion buildings); felling or transplanting trees that affect flooding. The total investment of the project is about 3.995 million yuan.
The Shengmuhu Lake project, which encroached on 3,000 mu of the Yellow River wetland, is also under rectification. In May 2019, the "Sanqin Metropolis Daily" reported that the local government had issued the "Heyang County Former Our Lady Lake Project Wetland Rehabilitation Plan", and the environmental improvement work of the original Shengmu Lake project area was smoothly implemented. Demolition of the surrounding buildings of the former Our Lady Lake Xiayang Shui 3000 square meters, covering the ground leveling about 15000 square meters, planting 733 willow trees, planting reed area of about 10000 square meters, installing 1623 fences around the original Our Lady Lake, more than 4870 meters, clean up the surrounding garbage Point 4.
On May 17, a staff member of the Management Committee of Qiachuan Scenic Spot in Heyang County told China News Weekly that Our Lady Lake had been filled and the occupied wetlands had been restored and passed the acceptance of the relevant departments.
On May 9th, China News Weekly saw on the scene that the river channel on the south bank of the Weihe Ecological Park is now covered with weeds. One of the warning signs with the words "Forbidden to play in water" is still standing in the dry river channel. A bridge leading to the Huxin Island of the Weihe Ecological Park was also removed. The broken bridge that was submerged in the water has not been pulled away for treatment.
Ma Zhitu, deputy manager of Xihai Park Project Manager Department of China Communications First Public Works Second Engineering Co., Ltd., told China News Weekly that the Xihai Park project started in 2017 and was suspended in early 2019. It is still in a state of suspension. Complete, we as the construction party, there is no possibility of headwind construction. Now the public opinion outside is said to fill the West Sea rumor is not true."
"China News Weekly" saw in the project manager department that there are photos of a former vice governor of Shaanxi Province and a former municipal party committee secretary of Weinan City, etc., on the display board so far.
Ma Zhitu said that after the shutdown of the Xihai project, the relevant project funds have not yet been settled. "The subsequent settlement of the project funds is a matter for the relevant government departments of the local government, and it is impossible for our construction units to control these." He said that the specific amount of engineering and the amount of engineering funds It has not yet been determined, "Because it involves a wide range, how much is settled, how to settle it, it is estimated that the provincial gatekeeper will decide, and the city may not necessarily decide."
In response to the related issues related to "Qindong Water Town", "China News Weekly" has repeatedly contacted the special class for rectification work in Weinan City. As of this writing, no response has been received.
"China News Weekly" combed the public information and found that since the rectification of the "Qindong Water Town" project last year, many officials in Weinan have lost their jobs. On June 28, 2019, the Shaanxi Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection informed that the former deputy secretary of the Huazhou District Committee and district mayor Bai Xiaolin had voluntarily committed the case. It was mentioned in the relevant notice that Bai Xiaolin had made inappropriate decisions and had the main leadership responsibility for the problems in the construction of related projects in Huazhou District.
On April 8, 2020, the official website of the Shaanxi Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection said that Wu Mancheng, chairman of the Weinan Municipal People's Political Consultative Conference, was suspected of serious violation of discipline and law and is currently undergoing disciplinary review and supervision investigation. Wu Mancheng served as the Deputy Mayor of Weinan City from December 2011 to February 2017; from February 2017 to January 2018, he served as the Standing Committee and Deputy Mayor of Weinan Municipal Committee. The curriculum vitae shows that the Weinan Municipal Land and Resources Bureau and Water Affairs Bureau in charge of them are the main responsible departments of the "Qindong Water Town" project.
"China News Weekly" No. 20, 2020
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