OREANDA-NEWS. November 28, 2012. State Council officially issued Approval for Central Plains Economic Zone Planning (2012-2020) (hereinafter called the Approval), according to Anhui Provincial Development and Reform Commission yesterday. Suzhou, Bozhou, Huaibei, Fuyang, Bengbu, Fengtai County and Panji District of Huainan were successfully included into the planning. Besides, a batch of great projects reported by Anhui were also included into the planning.

The successful approval for Central Plains Economic Zone means that North Anhui gets the first state-level planning.

It is learned that the Approval required that the related departments should tip the balance in favor of Central Plains Economic Zone in making polices, project arrangement, capital, and mechanism innovation. 5 provincial governments of Anhui, Henan, Hebei, Shanxi and Shandong should establish coordination mechanism to integrate great development issues of Central Plains Economic Zone.

It is learned that in order to support the construction of Central Plains Economic Zone, NDRC earmarked up to 13.7 billion yuan to fund the development of the zone and approved 47 momentous projects during the first half of this yea and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) established a special fund to subsidize the development of the zone.

Cheng Biding, a famous scholar of Anhui, said "the planning is based on Henan, 18 cities of Henan are all included and it is not easy that nearly the whole North Anhui was included into the planning." Revitalizing North Anhui is what Anhui yearned for long and included into the approval is the first step to realize the dream.