Construction of national park project to start soon

Chongqing will start building its Yangtze River Three Gorges National Park this year, a political adviser has confirmed.

Chongqing stands on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and contains most of the region's attractions.

The park is due to be completed in five years, and its attractions will include mountains and rivers as well as the Three Gorges, Zhang Hong, deputy chief of the Chongqing Forestry Bureau and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, told Chongqing Morning Post.

The State previously approved the building of national parks in nine provinces and regions, but Chongqing was not on the list.

"The city decided to go it alone and proposed the idea to the State later," Zhang told the newspaper.

Zhang confirmed the news to China Daily, but declined to comment further on the plan.

The project is included in Chongqing's municipal government work report, released in January.

There is no previous example of a provincial level forestry authority building a national park in China.

Such projects require approval from many State departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the State Forestry Administration.

No national park on the scale of Yellowstone in the United States has yet been opened to the public in China.

Potatso national park in Yunnan province attracts thousands of tourists annually but is only a provincial-level area.

Xie Deti, a National People's Congress deputy and dean of the College of Resources and Environment at Chongqing's Southwest University, said: "The municipal government aims to develop northwest Chongqing as an ecological development area.

"It will require a particular type of agency to run a national park, to collectively manage tourism sights in various counties in Chongqing, along the Yangtze River Three Gorges attraction.

"It is a good thing for improving environmental protection and ecological development. If the State could invest in the park, the result might be better."

Tan Yingzi contributed to this story.