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China cracks down on ‘themed towns’ in a bid to stop local governments wasting coronavirus stimulus funds
- A 10 billion yuan (US$1.42 billion) ‘Happy Town’ project was supposed to be an emporium of sex toys, but has now been shut down by the government
- State planner said local governments should return to ‘rationality’, in a move to cut down on frivolous infrastructure projects
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Local Chinese governments will no longer be able to build the extravagant and controversial “themed towns” that popped up around the country after Beijing’s post-global financial crisis infrastructure splurge, the country’s state planner has announced.
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Instead, the government is demanding a return to “rationality” after a number of high profile failures added to concerns over regional economies wasting central government stimulus funds.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a notice published on Wednesday that “fake themed towns” should be eliminated, and published a list of offenders who had built them. Those considered legitimate by the agency will continue to enjoy government support.
From 2016, the Chinese government had promoted the construction of these “themed towns”, which were supposed to dot the vast countryside with beautiful, liveable villages, while boosting local economies through attracting major investments.
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But the initiative was plagued with gimmicks, scams, and poorly thought through plans, leading to massive levels of wasteful spending and empty or half-completed projects.
A 10 billion yuan (US$1.42 billion) project dubbed “Happy Town” was located in the city of Yucheng in the Yangtze River Delta. It was supposed to include a sex toy shopping street, a sex exhibition centre and an “adult-only” hotel, but is now home only to a smattering of grapes, mulberry trees and turtle ponds.
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