A better living environment has been created thanks to smog treatment, water control, easing of traffic jam and development of Beautiful Villages .Air pollution is under effective control. We have made great efforts to treat industrial exhaust gas. During five years, efficient facilities of desulfurization, denitration and dedusting have taken place of 48 coal-fired boilers. Based on that, 13 coal-fired power sets and 12 local coal-fired electric boilers have been remoulded or updated to reach the standard of gas emission. 1,854 enterprises in ten industries of high pollution such as printing, paper making and chemical engineering have been renovated while the three-year treatment of 700 enterprises which discharge VOC been launched. The project of powering vehicles in six districts with natural gas has been carried out: in downtown Ningbo, 32 natural gas stations have been established; the number of clean-energy buses amount to 2,674 (accounting for 52.6%) while in terms of clean-energy taxis and container trucks, the figures are separately 3,279 (accounting for 70.8%) and 520 (accounting for 41.6%); yellow-label vehicles have basically vanished. Altogether, 1,083 fuel-forbidden areas have been established and 1,448 coal-fired facilities which generate severe pollution have been eliminated or transformed. The air quality of Ningbo has witnessed a steady improvement: in 2016, people enjoy a relatively good air quality in 84.7% of the days.
Achievements of water control have gradually surfaced. We have strengthened the capacity to treat waste water: with 36 sewage treatment plants put into operation, another 451,000 tons of domestic sewage in downtown areas can be treated daily and the treatment rate has risen from 88.1% to 96%; 1,634 sewage treatment facilities have been established in rural areas, covering 94.3% of the villages in planning; treatment of 480 polluted rivers has been finished, responsible persons have been appointed to take charge of 7,933 rivers and the establishment of No-Direct-Discharging Areas has been started. We have spared no efforts to build a safe water supply system: the integration of water supply has taken a step further; water plants in downtown areas basically use high-quality reservoir water and the number of users increase from 670,000 to 1.31 million; the project to improve the drinking water quality have benefited 682,000 farmers while the coverage of safe drinking water reaches over 99%. The overall capacity to resist water-related problems such as flood, waterlogging and drought is improved: 211.1 km of floodwalls has been constructed while 1,258 km of watercourses been dredged; three medium-sized reservoirs and 119 small reservoirs have been reinforced; in mountainous areas, realignment of 250-km watersheds has been completed; in key areas, 14 drainage pumping stations at the underpasses have been renewed.
The transportation is more convenient. We have strengthened the construction of transportation infrastructure. Ningbo Railway Station has become an important stop between South and North, where 120 passenger trains run regularly. As for highway network density, we are on a par with moderately developed countries with 116 km of highways on an area of 100 sq.km. Now, residents can reach Shanghai and Hangzhou in no more than two hours, travel around Ningbo in one hour and arrive in downtown in 30 minutes. Ningbo has turned into a demonstration city of public transportation: rail transit has been developed; Line 1 and Line 2 are in operation, covering 75 km and carrying over 150 million passengers; northern and southern expressways have primarily been built while all the 11 connecting roads been established; 116 ETC roads benefit 310,000 vehicles; the number of newly-developed or adjusted bus routes reaches 534 while that of new buses 4,797; 1,468 bicycle stops have altogether 36,000 bicycles to lend out ; 246,000 reserved parking spaces have been added, among which 128,000 are in city center and 104,00 in old residential communities; speed limit signs have been put up in one-way streets, arterial and sub-arterial highways; 485 traffic Urban and rural living qualities have witnessed a significant progress.
We are dedicated to the establishment of Beautiful Villages , making more rural residents relish the fruits of building a moderately prosperous society. Presently, villagers live their lives of a higher quality: during the five years, we have created 179 well-off villages and renovated 281 relatively 2017/2/24 Peoples Sense of Well-being in Ningbo Much Improved under developed ones; 200,000 rural residences have been improved while 8,325 families relocated; every village is equipped with a post station and every family in towns has a mailbox; 505 E-mailboxes and 456 E-commerce service points have been newly established.
We also work hard to improve urban living environment and urban images: the renovation project of Zhongshan Road has basically been completed; in the city center, 274 alleyways have been renovated while newly-developed public greenbelts cover 560 hectares of land; 19 projects to beautify city inlets and outlets have been finished; illegal buildings with a land coverage of 7,548 sq.km. have been demolished; renovation goes to 14.97 million sq.km. of old plants, one million sq.km. of old residential communities and 44.97 million sq.km. of urban villages; in terms of household waste sorting, Ningbo is exemplary in Zhejiang Province with a coverage of 75%; in key public places of downtown Ningbo, we have achieved full coverage of wifi; citizen cards can be used in both fields of public services and commerce; Mayor's Hotline has been opened up to make life more convenient. Increasingly optimized public services We persist in the principle of People First , advancing equality in public services and continuously strengthening ou
