The city of Baotou – located in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region – declared that a land greening demonstration pilot project was recently included within the scope of central government financial support programs.

The central financial support being provided for the project is 200 million yuan ($31.42 million). The project's total planned area is 181,000 mu (12,067 hectares), of which 30,000 mu will be involved in afforestation, 88,000 mu in forest tending and 63,000 mu in degraded forest restoration.

It is understood that since last year, municipal departments in Baotou have been mastering the policies and application requirements and have done a thorough job in the preliminary work.

Since the application for support, Baotou's departments have reported a number of times to interested departments and bureaus in the autonomous region and to national government ministries and commissions. The departments then combined the accumulated research, compiled the materials and submitted the project implementation plan.

The city successfully passed a review conducted by the Inner Mongolia government on Jan 18, when it was recommended as the only city in the autonomous region to apply for the pilot project.

The Ministry of Finance and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration organized experts to review 29 provinces and autonomous regions across the country through video conferences on Feb 11 and confirmed that the Baotou project was selected.