By Lan Xinzhen

As in developed countries， there are many cities in China that rely on natural resources for development. With the exhaustion of resources， some of them are facing difficulties， presenting a challenge for economic transformation.

The State Council released on December 3 the Sustainable Development Planning for National Resource-Based Cities （2013-20）， the first national-level plan in China to guide the sustainable development of resourcedependent cities.

Du Ying， Vice Minister of the National Development and Reform Commission（NDRC）， said the plan aims to solve problems all resource-dependent cities are facing， including disorderly and excessive exploitation of resources and damages to the ecological environment. Moreover， industrial structure in these cities is unbalanced， with resourcebased industries accounting for a large proportion of the local economy while other industries lag far behind. Once resources dwindle， these cities may decline， posing a threat to their sustainable development.

Based on the potential for sustainable development and resource conditions， Chinas resource-based cities are divided into four categories： growing， mature， declining and regenerative.

Growing resource-dependent cities are considered bases for Chinas energy supply and reserves and mature resource-dependent cities are core areas for guaranteeing Chinas energy security. Declining resourcedependent cities are listed as key areas for transformation. Regenerative resourcedependent cities are set as pioneers and models for transformation.

Differentiated tasks

Du said the NDRC has set differentiated tasks for different types of resource-dependent cities. As for the growing ones， the NDRC will mainly boost their development， raise the access to resource extraction industries， ensure exploitation of resources at a reasonable rate and strictly implement environmental impact assessments.

In the mature ones， the NDRC will advance the adjustment and upgrade of their industrial structure； solve problems caused by resource extraction； extend industrial chains， nurture enterprises for deep processing of resources； and incorporate environmental costs into the total production costs.

In the declining cities， the government will vigorously develop alternative industries. According to the NDRC figures， the population of the 67 declining resource-dependent cities only accounts for 4 percent of the countrys total， but they have one fourth of the countrys shantytowns， one 10th of the countrys unemployed mine workers， and one third of the countrys subsided areas.

As for the regenerative cities， the NDRC will guide their innovation-oriented development， improve the quality and efficiency of their economic development and establish a long-lasting mechanism for sustainable development.

Du said for the development of resourcedependent cities， the government should not only solve the problems in cities where resources are depleting， but also boost sustainable development of all resourcedependent cities.

Model cities

Among all the resource-dependent cities， people are more concerned about the development of the declining ones. However， NDRC officials， who are responsible for guiding industrial development， have shown enough confidence in their transformation， as they already have two successful examples： Chinas Fuxin and Ruhr in Germany.

Located in northeast Chinas Liaoning Province， Fuxin was once prosperous because of its coal industry， with an aggregate output of 700 million tons. But as the coal reserves depleted， the citys GDP growth once dropped to 2 percent in the years around 2000， in a striking contrast to its previous peak of 20 percent. Its unemployed population amounted to nearly half of the citys total employees. In 2001， the State Council set Fuxin， a resourceexhausted city， as a pilot for transformation. Fuxin had a developed hydraulic industry in the 1960s and was once home to Chinas first hydraulic component factory. The city， therefore， identified the hydraulic industry as an alternative industry after coal resources were exhausted.

Following over 10 years of experiments， Fuxin has solved problems involving peoples livelihood and， more importantly， expanded its hydraulic equipment manufacturing industry. By 2012， there had been 970 enterprises producing hydraulic equipment， and many laid-off workers from the coal industry found jobs in the new industry.

Du said the transformation of Fuxin has made progress， but has not yet been completed. If successfully transformed， it will be listed as a regenerative city.

Ruhr is a model of successful transformation. Once a city of steel and coal， Ruhr made great contributions to Germanys recovery after World War II. But since the 1960s and 1970s， the heavy industry in Ruhr supported by steel and coal industries began to decline， with a large number of shuttered mines and steel mills， laid-off workers and worsening public security.

From 1966 to 1971， Germany spent more than 15 billion Deutsche marks on reinvigorating Ruhr， and later increased the investment and formulated a plan to revive the city. Decades later， Ruhr has regained vitality and become a university town and a cultural center. The service industry now contributes 70 percent to its GDP.

According to Du， after Fuxin， the NDRC， the Ministry of Land and Resources and Ministry of Finance listed another 60 resource-exhausted cities as pilot cases and granted specific support. The NDRC established a special program on supporting alternative industries in these cities and allocated 2.1 billion yuan （$342.58 million）， stimulating 30 billion yuan （$4.89 billion） in investment from other sources. This has greatly promoted the development of diversified industrial structures in resourcedependent cities.

Assessment mechanisms

Du said China will no longer use GDP as an indicator to assess economic development in resource-dependent cities， with the aim of guiding them to focus on ecological and environmental protection and sustainable development instead of blindly chasing foreign investment and excessively exploiting local resources.

The NDRC is formulating a mechanism for pricing of resources that can fully reflect the supply and demand as well as the scarcity of the resources. The core issue is to further advance reform of the resource tax.

The NDRC is also formulating a compensation mechanism for the ecological system， under which those who exploit resources and benefit from the development should be responsible for compensating for and restoring the environmental degradation.

“After these mechanisms are established， the problem of sole pursuit of GDP growth by the resource-dependent cities can be solved to some extent，” said Du.

Xu Hongcai， Director of the Budget Department of the Ministry of Finance， said the ministry has a whole set of criteria for assessing the achievements of resource-exhausted cities， including unified requirements for all resource-dependent cities and some specific requirements for different cities of particular resource types such as coal， metal， oil and gas as well as forestry.

The ministry will also assess the proportion of resource extraction industry in a citys total GDP. “The more the proportion drops， the better the achievements the city has made，” Xu said.