In the area of Shuoxi Lake in Huaibei, murmuring lucid waters flow under the blue sky, and egrets and wild ducks fly over the lake from time to time. With great rehabilitation efforts, the mining subsidence area, which gradually formed since the 1970s, has become a beautiful sight to behold in the city. Located in Duji District, Huaibei City, Anhui Province, Shuoxi Lake used to be the main producing area of Zhahe Coal Field. Duji District prospered thanks to the coal industry, but at the same time was faced with restrictions from the conflicts between economic development and ecological protection due to the long-term coal mining. CDB Anhui Branch provided both financing and consultancy services and granted loans amounting to 300 million yuan for the Comprehensive Rehabilitation of Shuoxi Lake Mining Subsidence Area (Phase I) in 2022. The project involved resettlement of the disaster-affected residents, eco-environment restoration of the subsidence area, and the development of characteristic industries, helping turn the former “black scar” into a “green oxygen bar”. Now, with the support of development finance, Shuoxi Lake has become a model of eco-environment governance in China.
The mining subsidence area is the most difficult and important part in the transformation and development of resource-based areas, but such transformation is an inevitable requirement to put the people-centered development thinking into practice and protect the immediate interests of the people. Recently, to implement the decisions and instructions the CPC Central Committee and the State Council and better support the comprehensive rehabilitation of mining subsidence areas, China Development Bank (CDB) introduced the Work Plan for Supporting the Comprehensive Rehabilitation of Mining Subsidence Areas (hereinafter refer to “the Plan”) to further support the high-quality development of resource-based areas and promote the building of Beautiful China as a development finance institution (DFI).
It is pointed out in the Plan that CDB should follow the national plans for the comprehensive rehabilitation of mining subsidence areas as its guidelines, deepen the bank-government-enterprise cooperation, and strengthen advance planning and policy research, so as to explore bank-government cooperation in the comprehensive rehabilitation of mining subsidence areas according to local conditions. CDB should deepen its understanding of the comprehensive rehabilitation planning of different mining subsidence areas and their development priorities, work out plans for a group of important comprehensive rehabilitation projects, and make a list of the candidate projects, and establish a market-based investment and financing operation model, with all initiatives being undertaken through the cooperation between the Head Office and the branches.
According to the requirements set down in the Plan, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, CDB should follow the national action plan for the comprehensive rehabilitation of mining subsidence areas, mainly focus on relevant areas that have been listed in the national plan such as Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning and Heilongjiang, fully leverage its advantages of medium- and long-term investment and financing as a DFI, offer these places some favorable credit policies as appropriate, adopt various measures as necessary according to the particular conditions, and support the high-quality development of demonstration areas for the comprehensive rehabilitation of mining subsidence areas with financing services, helping key mining subsidence areas achieve remarkable progress in comprehensive rehabilitation.
It is specified in the Plan that CDB should capitalize on its professional advantages in infrastructure financing and try harder to support the construction of important infrastructure in mining subsidence areas. CDB should stick to its mandate as a DFI, focus on priority areas, guarantee the housing security of residents with financing support, adopt different measures for resettlement of people in high-risk areas according to the local conditions, and accelerate the construction of resettlement areas and the reconstruction of demolition areas. It should guarantee and improve people’s livelihood, and help provide a better public service system and strengthen infrastructure. It should speed up the eco-environment restoration and governance and make use of the mountain, water, forest and grassland resources as appropriate to improve the production, livelihood and eco-space layout. It should vigorously promote industrial transformation and upgrading, help develop succeeding alternative industries, improve industrial chains, and facilitate the coordinated regional development, so as to practically improve the living conditions in mining subsidence areas, gradually restore the eco-environment, and enhance the foundation for transformation development. In this way, it may make substantial contributions to stepping up the comprehensive rehabilitation of mining subsidence areas and the high-quality development of resource-based areas.
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