Xiongan New Area afforests over 1,400 hectares

SHIJIAZHUANG -- The Xiongan New Area in north China have completed an afforestation project of more than 1,400 hectares with several green belts built this spring, the Hebei provincial forestry and grassland bureau said Sunday.

By the end of March 29, Xiongan had planted trees covering an area of 1,466.7 hectares.

In 2018, Xiongan New Area afforested a total of 7,333 hectares, increasing the area' forest coverage by 6 percent.

In January, China's central authorities approved the 2018-2035 master plan for Xiongan. According to the plan, which stresses high-quality development, Xiongan will become a modern city that is green, intelligent and livable with "relatively strong competitiveness and human-environment harmony by 2035."

Hebei will beef up afforestation programs. A total of 513,333 hectares of forest will be added in the province in 2019, increasing the forest coverage to 35 percent.

The province began a three-year afforestation campaign in 2018, planting more trees to build a "green wall" for Beijing.