On November 29, the 13th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th Anhui Provincial People's congress reviewed and approved the decree on the construction and handling of Chizhou sponge city (hereinafter referred to as the decree), which will come into force on January 1, 2020. This is the first comprehensive local regulation for sponge city construction in China. Cao Linsheng, deputy director of the law working committee of the Standing Committee of the provincial people's Congress, commented that the decree has standardized and legalized the effective experience, actions and provided the province and the whole country with "Chizhou experience" that can be popularized and imitated.
As one of the first 16 pilot cities in China, Chizhou has designated the 18.5 square kilometers of central urban area as a demonstration area since the launch of the pilot construction in 2015, launching the construction of 117 sponge city projects in six categories, including water ecological water security system, garden green space system, road traffic sponge City system, with a total investment of 5.238 billion yuan.
"Chizhou sponge city construction coverage rate is the best among the domestic pilot cities, because it enables the majority of people in the city to benefit. It is expected that Chizhou City will continue to explore new modes of sponge city management, and continue to contribute Chizhou experience for the promotion and application of sponge city construction in all parts of the country." On April 12 this year, Ren Nanqi, academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering and leader of the national sponge city construction pilot performance evaluation expert group, who came to Chi to conduct on-site review of performance evaluation, said. At the same time, there are some problems in the construction process of Chizhou sponge City, such as the inconsistency of standards and the disconnection of construction and management. It is necessary to summarize, refine and perfect various systems, regulations, experiences and practices in the pilot construction.
This year, Chizhou City raised this work to a higher level - to start to draw up laws and regulations to determine the sponge city construction management system. Chen Xu, director of the law working committee of the Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress, said it was the first time in the country to use regulations to regulate the construction of sponge cities. In order to ensure the high quality of legislation, the Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress has organized experts and representatives from all walks of life in the fields of law, urban planning, construction management and ecological environment to discuss and amend the draft law (Draft) for nearly 100 times in 7 rounds. On October 31, the 15th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 4th Municipal People's Congress passed the decree on the construction of Chizhou sponge city.
From April to November 29, it was reviewed and approved at the 13th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress of Anhui Province. In just seven months, the decree not only filled the legislative gaps related to sponge city construction in China, but also created the "Chizhou speed" of local legislation.
According to the decree, the principles of ecological priority, planning guidance and government guidance shall be followed in the construction and handling of sponge cities. The people's governments of cities and counties shall include the project operation handling fees into the financial annual budget of the same level, and make specific provisions on the punishment measures for illegal behaviors in the construction and handling.
"The decree provides an outstanding legal guarantee for the construction of sponge City, is a vivid practice for the legislative work to serve the economic and social development, is a vivid practice for the in-depth implementation of the spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, and really improves the ability of urban governance according to law." Cao Linsheng said.
