(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-09-06 06:26

Great changes have taken place in the rural areas and in farmers' lives as the municipal government's plan to build a socialist new countryside begins to be implemented in Dalian.

Altogether 246 roads with a total mileage of 906 km and nine passenger stations were built in rural Dalian last year, making the city the first in the province to reach the goal of connecting all villages.

Also in 2006, a total of 122 drinking water projects were completed in villages, providing safe drinking water to 130,000 rural residents, the Dachangshan Island diversion project was completed to provide drinkable water to residents of the island.

Dalian has won the provincial Dayu Cup for outstanding farmland capital construction for 18 consecutive years.

Eighteen model villages for utilizing ecological energy were built there last year. Seventeen medium and large-sized bio-gas projects of the highest quality and construction standards were also completed.

The Hundred Model Villages Project in the construction of the socialist new countryside has achieved good results, with construction plans made and 220 new industrial projects launched. Open village affairs and democratic settlement of money matters have been fully implemented in these villages.

The village environment harness work is being conducted, leading to obvious improvement in the living conditions and quality of life of rural residents.

A project is launched to cultivate the new spirit of citizen, build new types of community, and create a new way of life.

A total of 350,000 sq m of housing has been built for farmers. Over 291,000 rural students have benefited from free compulsory education, while more than 2,200 students have received boarder subsidies.

These measures have directly reduced farmers' financial burden by nearly 100 million yuan. A new cooperative medical system covering all rural areas has been set up in Dalian, with about 2.11 million farmers already participating in it.

Further, 15 urban hospitals have sent out 123 medical workers to serve in rural health centers. The funding mechanism for promoting rural population and family planning issues have been reformed, and fertility rates remain low.

The social relief system has been improved. The management of the rural minimum living subsidy system has been upgraded, to make sure that the network covers all those who need such subsidies. Twenty-five nursing homes have been built in rural areas.

The government helped 1,500 households renovate their unsafe homes and relocated 550 ecological migrant households.

Poverty alleviation is seeing steady progress. In 2006, 998 million yuan worth of small credit was granted to over 60,000 farmers, 27.9 percent higher than the previous year.

The government allocated 62.11 million yuan and 381 designated units contributed over 16 million yuan in poverty alleviation funds to construct infrastructure and industrial projects.

Another 848 rural household shops were set up to take the total number to 1,472. The overall rural commercial environment and quality has seen improvement, and the consumption potential of the rural population has also been released.

A project has been launched to screen movies in every village each month, with nearly 4,000 movies shown last year.

Standard basketball courts and table tennis facilities were built in 102 villages to promote sports activities among farmers. Seven counties have set up national physique and fitness monitoring stations.

The statistics indicate that rural residents are increasingly enjoying the fruits of reform and economic development.

(China Daily 09/06/2007 page61)