Project strives for integrated communities

Housing and civil affairs authorities in provincial-level entities are required to work together and carry out a two-year pilot project to build "integrated communities" that are safe, healthy, well-equipped, orderly, and friendly to senior people and children, according to a notice issued by the general offices of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

The notice said the areas have been ordered to choose three to five residential communities in each city to take part in the project and gain experience for other parts of the country to draw upon.

The project is aimed at equipping the communities with services that meet residents' daily needs, such as daycare, health centers, convenience stores, food stores, postal services, and drug stores, and to improve other infrastructures such as roads, water supplies, electricity, and barrier-free facilities, the notice said.

It also called for greater use of intelligent technologies, such as the internet of things, cloud computing, and big data to improve community services and management.

Nation seeks to nurture engineering talent

China has set out a special plan to nurture at least 200,000 field engineers by 2025 to meet the needs of advanced manufacturing and other key industries, a notice issued by the general office of the Ministry of Education and four other departments said.

The plan aims to have at least 500 vocational schools and 1,000 companies take part in the talent-nurturing plan to facilitate the high-end, digital, intelligent and green development of key industries.

Companies that take part in the plan should create posts for apprentice field engineers, clarify the kind of knowledge and skills needed for the posts and sign a tripartite agreement with schools and students on apprenticeships, the notice said.

Participating businesses and vocational schools are required to work together to formulate and implement their own talent-nurturing plans and develop their own curricula, the notice said, adding that employees of the companies and teachers at schools should share the responsibility for educating students.

Better broadcast sites sought for rural areas

The National Radio and Television Administration and four other departments have issued a notice ordering local authorities to improve the emergency broadcasting terminals in rural areas to better protect people against natural disasters.

The notice set a goal that by the end of 2025, at least 70 percent of the villages in the country will each have at least two sets of such terminals.

Local authorities should build an emergency broadcasting network that is highly invulnerable and increase the number of terminals in key areas such as squares, underground public spaces, and tunnels, the notice said, adding that all should also equip the terminals with standby power to make sure that they will work under extreme circumstances.

Technology to help make mines safer

The National Mine Safety Administration and the Ministry of Finance have issued a plan for local authorities to better prevent major accidents in coal mines and improve their safety with new technologies.

The plan called for installing high-definition cameras and intelligent image analysis devices in key areas of the mines.

It orders local authorities to also install intelligent image analysis software and audio and video communications systems in the control rooms of coal mines to better monitor workers and facilitate collaboration between the mines and authorities in case of emergency.