Recently, the launch ceremony for the 2021 Zibo City-wide Park City and International Convention and Exhibition Center construction, along with the commencement of the Xiaofu River Cultural Leisure Ecological Sightseeing Belt and the expressway network, was held in Zibo Economic Development Zone, with simultaneous activities in all districts and counties.

　　The four major key construction projects commenced on that day are strategic moves by Zibo to deeply advance the urban development concept of “four-in-one, group coordination, and city-wide integration,” enhance the city's capacity and quality vitality, and have a major strategic driving role in improving Zibo's core competitiveness and the quality of life of the people, which will affect Zibo's development for years or even longer.

　　Four Major Key Construction Projects Launched on the Same Day

　　The City-wide Park City, Zibo International Convention and Exhibition Center, Xiaofu River Cultural Leisure Ecological Sightseeing Belt, and Urban Expressway Network are the four major key construction projects of Zibo in 2021.

　　Among them, the City-wide Park City will follow the overall layout of “one center, two rings, three belts, four areas” to promote the “ten major actions” including the construction of urban parks, urban greenways, ecological corridors, country parks, village and town parks, pastoral complexes, as well as ecological restoration, village greening, river and lake water systems, and cultural and sports enhancement, to build a park city with unique Zibo characteristics and charm. This year, a total of 260 projects in 10 categories are planned, with a total investment of 48.5 billion yuan and an annual investment of 12.5 billion yuan.

　　The Zibo International Convention and Exhibition Center project is located south of Changguo Road, north of Haidai Avenue, east of Fanyang River, and west of Xiaofu River, covering an area of about 50 hectares with a total construction area of 600,000 square meters. It aims to build a high-quality expo innovation complex and exhibition park, drive the development of the southern part of the main urban area, and create a central vitality area, with a planned total investment of 6 billion yuan. Currently, planning and design and preliminary work have been launched, and construction will start in the second half of the year.

　　The Xiaofu River is the mother river in the hearts of Zibo people, flowing through Boshan, Zichuan, Zhangdian, and other districts and counties. The Xiaofu River Cultural Leisure Ecological Sightseeing Belt project has a total length of 64.7 kilometers and an area of about 1,756 hectares, with an estimated total investment of about 6.496 billion yuan. It will implement six major projects along the main stream, including road connectivity, water quality improvement, environmental remediation, and greening enhancement. This year, 19 projects will start.

　　The “two rings and five rays” urban expressway network project includes two ring lines in the main urban area and five rays radiating from the main urban area to surrounding districts and counties, with a planned total investment of 61 billion yuan. This year, the first ring will start construction with a total investment of about 20 billion yuan, making it the largest urban construction project in Zibo to date.

　　The Hongluoshan Country Park project in Linzi District started, the southern forest park enhancement project in Zichuan District started, the functional enhancement project of Mata Lake National Wetland Nature Park in Huantai County started... On that day, Zibo's districts and counties set up sub-venues simultaneously and held related activities.

　　In 2021, Zibo City will fully implement the urban development concept of “building a park city, improving and expanding the main urban area, city-wide coordination and integration, and rapid transportation,” plan and implement 61 key urban construction projects in the main urban area and the whole city, with a total investment of 225.9 billion yuan and an annual planned investment of 65 billion yuan, covering urban roads, urban greening, drainage engineering, livelihood projects, transportation engineering, public buildings, and other fields. For major projects, top-level coordination, flat management, and “point-to-point” service guarantee mechanisms will be implemented, and command centers and special work teams will be established to concentrate efforts on project construction. Zibo will adhere to high-standard planning, high-level design, and high-quality construction, strive to improve project approval efficiency and factor guarantee levels, timely coordinate and solve difficulties and problems encountered in project advancement, and fully promote early implementation, early completion, and early use of projects.

　　Seeing Zibo's Beautiful Future

　　The four major key construction projects commenced on that day directly affect Zibo's development for years or even longer.

　　In order to solve the problems of Zibo's weak position in the province and the country, low primacy of the main urban area, weak attractiveness, carrying capacity, and radiation power, insufficient “coordination” of regional development, and unclear “integration” results, Zibo has focused on deepening the urban development concept of “four-in-one, group coordination, and city-wide integration” and proposed the development strategy of “building a park city, improving and expanding the main urban area, city-wide integration and coordination, and rapid transportation,” especially around “improving and expanding the main urban area,” further clarifying the urban development path of “optimizing the east, integrating the west, expanding the south, and connecting the north.”

　　In Zibo's view, the four major key construction projects commenced this time, like the adjustment and optimization of the management scope and institutional setup of some functional areas in April last year, are strategic moves to deeply advance the urban development concept of “four-in-one, group coordination, and city-wide integration,” enhance the city's capacity and quality vitality, and have a major strategic driving role in improving Zibo's core competitiveness and the quality of life of the people.

　　“Park City” is not a simple superposition of parks and cities, but the planning and construction of the entire city as a park system. It is an advanced form and evolution direction of urban development, reflecting the people's expectation for a high-quality living environment. Its essence is a modern city with a high degree of harmony and unity among population, city, environment, and industry. The “Opinions of the Zibo Municipal People's Government on Building a City-wide Park City” also clearly states that it is necessary to follow the overall concept of “ecology as the foundation (with the construction of a life community of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, and grasslands as the base), four lives in harmony (production development, ecological beauty, affluent life, and healthy life), five-dimensional co-construction (optimizing urban quality, conserving urban ecology, inheriting historical context, improving living environment, and enhancing governance level), and city-park integration” to comprehensively build a city-wide park city system with harmony and unity of “people, environment, industry, city, and system,” and fully blossoming ecological value, economic value, cultural value, and aesthetic value, providing a strong guarantee for building a modern group-type metropolis that is pragmatic and open, quality and vitality, and ecologically harmonious.

　　According to the plan, Zibo will focus on “city-wide grand parks, micro green spaces in front of doors, flowers in three seasons, and greenery in four seasons” to create parks around citizens, focus on “thousands of miles connecting mountains and rivers, strolling home roads” to promote city-wide greenway connectivity, focus on “promoting Qi style and ceramic charm, telling thousand-year stories” to enhance the city's cultural soft power, and advance the “ten major actions,” striving to use 5-15 years to build Zibo into a city-wide park city with green mountains and clear waters, beautiful people and fertile fields, strong cities and abundant industries, clear layout, city-park integration, and harmony and unity, and build it into a national pioneer area for city-wide park city construction and a demonstration area for group-type park cities.

　　The Zibo International Convention and Exhibition Center, planned with formats such as exhibition, catering, and supporting hotels, carries Zibo's hope to further promote urban space and urban quality vitality, drive industrial and consumption upgrading, and drive the transformation of old and new kinetic energy.

　　The Xiaofu River Cultural Leisure Ecological Sightseeing Belt project will push Zibo into a new stage of river-oriented development. The six major projects, including road connectivity along the main stream, landscape remediation and greening enhancement, new ecological parks and upgrading of existing parks, riverside interface renovation and enhancement, old city renewal demonstration projects, and rural revitalization demonstration projects along the main stream, will promote the ecological civilization construction, urban-rural coordinated development, industrial transformation and upgrading, and urban cultural revival of the Xiaofu River Basin, achieve the organic integration of ecological space and urban-rural space, and build it into a pioneer demonstration and high-quality ecological corridor for Zibo's city-wide park city construction.

　　As one of the measures to solve the constraints on Zibo's urban development, the “two rings and five rays” urban expressway network connects Zibo's “three cities” (University City, Science City, and Ecological Industry New City) and “five areas” (Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Demonstration Zone, Eastern Chemical Industry Zone, Comprehensive Bonded Zone, Eastern Ecological Restoration Demonstration Zone, and Jinan-Zibo Integration Pioneer Zone) that are being intensively built. While bringing Zibo into the “elevated era,” it is also of great significance for enhancing Zibo's urban capacity and the city-wide integration development level.

　　Turning the “project list” into a “military order,” “the start is a decisive battle, the beginning is a sprint,” and showing the drive of “if you don't strive for first, you're just muddling along”... At the ceremony, the heads of Zibo's districts, counties, and related units expressed their commitments one after another.

　　Zibo is following the concept of “optimizing the east, integrating the west, expanding the south, and connecting the north,” adhering to industry-city integration and high-end positioning for areas such as Zibo Economic Development Zone and Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Demonstration Zone that are related to Zibo's long-term development, and doing a good job in spatial development strategic planning with a higher stance and broader vision, daring and being good at reserving sufficient development space for Zibo's future decades and laying a solid foundation for development.