10 key projects selected to advance people's well-being

Writer: Zhang Yu  |  Editor: Zhang Chanwne  |  From: Shenzhen Daily  |  Updated: 2023-02-17

For two consecutive years, Shenzhen lawmakers have voted for 10 key projects that aim to improve people’s well-being for the year, continually guiding the city government to improve its residents’ lives.

This year’s 10 were chosen from a list of 12 candidate projects at the closing meeting of the annual session of the city’s legislature Thursday.

The projects cover optimizing medical services, creating a better living environment, improving elderly care services at communities, enhancing the quality of basic education, strengthening food and drug supervision, ensuring women’s and children’s physical and mental health, increasing child care service provision, optimizing citizens’ travel experience, creating more jobs, and enriching cultural and sports activities.

Lawmakers vote for 10 key projects of 2023 that aim to improve residents' well-being at the closing meeting of the annual session of the city's legislature yesterday. Yang Shaokun

The projects, closely following social development and people’s needs, have brought focus on some new issues such as inclusive child care services, standardized water and electricity charges, and construction of new energy vehicle charging facilities and characteristic senior high schools.

One of the projects will see Shenzhen build and expand three hospitals to add 3,200 hospital beds and increase 35 community health centers.

In terms of improving elderly care at communities, facility renovations will be done in 10,000 households for senior citizens and all communities will have elderly service centers. Over 50% of communities with an aging population will have elderly service stations.

The city will provide 200,000 school admissions for basic education and build over 10 first-class senior high schools.

The city will optimize and adjust 85 bus routes and build 150,000 new energy vehicle charging facilities. Online parking reservations will be available in all cultural facilities and public venues.

The projects also include building and transforming 30 parks and 330 kilometers of greenways, and increasing 100 kilometers of ecological corridors.

Shenzhen will create 180,000 new jobs and offer skills training and evaluation for 20,000 employees.

In terms of women’s health, eligible females under the age of 14 can receive the domestic bivalent HPV vaccine for free.

“We are very pleased to see that the city government has delivered on its promises to the citizens regarding last year’s projects,” said lawmaker Yang Rui.

Yang added that more citizens will benefit from this year’s projects if joint efforts are made to put these projects into place.

As of Dec. 20, 2022, Shenzhen had spent 322.99 billion yuan (US$47.12 billion) on improving people’s lives last year, up 10.2% year on year and accounting for 68% of its fiscal expenditure, according to data from the city’s legislature.