According to a recent story published by Chongqing Evening News, Chongqing government will spend Rmb177bn this year on 650 renovation projects to improve the appearance of the downtown area, an increase of Rmb40bn over last year.

Renovation work will cover main roads, cables and pipes, public toilets, parks and billboards. By the end of 2010, a total of nearly 11m square metres of dilapidated and dangerous housing will be demolished. Half of the vacant space will be made into green space. Another 129m square metres of old housing will be renovated, affecting 1.09m households.

The city’s ‘ongoing Go Green’ campaign has so far involved 12.6m new trees being planted alongside 91 main roads and on 180 roundabouts.