Bejing govt to turn capital into 'park city'

Beijing government will increase its forest coverage and restore wetlands to build the capital into a "park city", a guideline draft for the city's next five-year plan said on Sunday.

By 2025, Beijing will achieve a forest coverage of 45 percent, up from 44.4 percent in 2020, and ensure 16.7 square meters of green areas in parks for each citizen, the draft said.

The capital will restore more than 50 small wetlands to create space for animals to migrate and inhabit and build more than 100 biodiversity protection demonstration zones.

It also plans to close 40,000 hectares of green mountains for cultivation and plant trees on 10,000 hectares of mountain land within the five years.

In the core zone of Beijing, namely Xicheng and Dongcheng districts, the government will afforest streets, house roofs and yards and increase the number of green patches such as mini-parks.

By 2025, Beijing will build more than 350 kilometers of greenbelts inside the city and guarantee each district has at least one angling area and one ice rink on the river or lake.

The city will carry out an afforestation project in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cluster for sandstorm treatment, the draft said.