The State Council on April 7 issued a circular approving the overall plan for Dongying city (2011-2020) submitted by the Shandong provincial government.

Dongying is a central city in the Yellow River Delta area, and it is also one of China’s most important petroleum bases.

According to the State Council, based on the five development concepts - innovation, coordination, green development, opening up, and sharing - the overall plan should stick to a sustainable development strategy, building Dongying into a modern city featuring prosperous economy, harmonious living environment, and vitality.

With a coordinated urban and rural planning management, the plan covers 6,442 square kilometers. Efforts should be made to promote agricultural and rural modernization and facilitate standardized urban and rural basic public services.

In terms of city scale, the plan will work to control the city’s permanent resident population within one million and land use for urban construction within 119.87 square kilometers by 2020.

A basic urban infrastructure system should be improved in accordance with green, cyclic, and low carbon development philosophies. According to the plan, efforts should be made to improve a comprehensive transport system, parking lots, underground pipelines, and urban disaster prevention systems.

In addition, the plan aims at building Dongying into a sponge city that is resource-conserving and environment-friendly.

The plan states that development of the city also should be people-oriented, and efforts should be made to improve public services infrastructures concerning education, medical care and municipal administration. The construction of affordable housing also will be involved in the short-term development plan of Dongying.

The State Council stressed the importance of strengthening efforts to protect the local historical and cultural features, and that construction should be featured with petroleum and coastal characteristics.