📋 Tender Overview
At the comprehensive desertification control project site on the west side of the middle section of the underground wind outlet sand-blocking belt of the Maowusu Desert in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, herdsmen Sa Heqi from Sumitu Gacha, Sumitu Sumu, Otog Banner, are patrolling on a motorcycle. "We started work in the early spring and are currently busy laying sand barriers with tamarisk to prevent sand from spreading." Tian Yanjun, director of the Otog Banner Forestry and Grassland Station, introduced that the project has completed the management of 265,300 mu of land, effectively curbing the expansion trend of local desertification. This is a microcosm of the entire "Three Norths" project battle.
In June 2023, at a symposium on strengthening comprehensive desertification prevention and control and promoting the construction of key ecological projects such as the "Three Norths", General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Deepening the construction of key ecological projects such as the 'Three Norths' is related to my country's ecological security, the construction of a strong country, and the sustainable development of the Chinese nation", and required "to strive to fight a tough battle for the 'Three Norths' project in about 10 years." This year's "Government Work Report" proposed: "Promote the landmark battle of the 'Three Norths' project to achieve important results."
Relevant regions and departments of the "Three Norths" project have strengthened the guarantee of factors and stepped up governance efforts. In 2024, the National Development and Reform Commission included the "Three Norths" project in the "double-weight" scope, and invested a total of 32 billion yuan in ultra-long-term treasury bonds and central fiscal funds, a significant increase over the investment during the fifth phase of the "Three Norths" project. The project investment has been changed from a fixed subsidy to a comprehensive quotation and full investment, and for the first time, the management and protection of new afforestation results on desertified land has been included in the support scope. Various regions have innovated diversified investment mechanisms. Inner Mongolia has established a sand control fund, raising 11.2 billion yuan for local matching; Xinjiang has issued the "Nine Sands" support measures, allocating 1 billion yuan of special funds each year for new sand control projects.
At present, the three landmark battles of the "Three Norths" project have been fully launched and are progressing smoothly. 13 key projects such as water conservation and ecological management at the eastern foot of the Helan Mountains in the "Jizi Bend" battle of the Yellow River, and 14 key projects such as comprehensive ecological management of the main stream of the Tarim River in the Hexi Corridor-Taklimakan Desert edge blocking battle have been fully launched. Among the 8 key projects in the Korqin and Hunshandake Desert annihilation battle, 7 have been launched. In 2024, the "Three Norths" project will complete 57 million mu of various construction tasks.
While increasing "hard investment", all regions and relevant departments have focused on improving the system and mechanism, and on carrying out the "soft construction" supporting the "Three Norths" project. Joint prevention and control, sand prevention and control are "one chess game".
Alxa League in Inner Mongolia, Zhongwei City in Ningxia, and Minqin County in Gansu jointly built a 102,000-acre "engineering sand fixation + artificial grass planting" ecological defense line at the provincial boundary of the Tengger Desert; on the southern edge of the Horqin Desert, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia jointly built a "thousand-mile border-locking" forest and grassland belt... "The Three North regions broke administrative boundaries, insisted on systematic governance, concentrated resources and strength on unified planning, joint prevention and control, and continuously improved governance results." Liu Bing, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the Three Norths Bureau of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, introduced.
Clench your fingers into fists and start a "chorus" to overcome difficulties. In Keshiketeng Banner, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, the first phase of the Hunshandake-Korqin Sandy Land South Edge Control Project is the first sand control project in which central enterprises participate in the "Three Norths" project construction, with a total investment of 340 million yuan, of which China Three Gorges Corporation, a central enterprise, invested 130 million yuan. "By leveraging the advantages of central enterprises, the efficiency and quality of project construction have been significantly improved, and a total of 93,100 mu of control tasks will be completed in 2024," said Li Yang, executive deputy general manager of Three Gorges Three Norths Shelterbelt Construction (Inner Mongolia) Co., Ltd.
The National Development and Reform Commission coordinated the construction of the desertification control base with desertification control, and clarified the coordination requirements with the National Energy Administration, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration and other relevant departments; the "Photovoltaic Sand Control Plan for the Three North Deserts and Gobi Deserts (2024-2030)" passed the expert demonstration. Inner Mongolia formulated a promotion plan for the integrated wind power and photovoltaic project; Xinjiang carried out the construction of a photovoltaic base around the Taklimakan Desert... The relevant person in charge of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration said that it is necessary to summarize and promote the photovoltaic sand control model and realize the complementarity of "generating electricity on the panels and planting under the panels" and achieve multiple goals at one stroke.
