Guangyuan, one of the hardest-hit cities in the Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008, has basically completed its post-quake reconstruction thanks to three years of arduous efforts, according to a senior official.

As of September 30 this year, the northernmost city in Sichuan province had started 6,305 post-disaster restoration and reconstruction projects, and 6,222, or 98.68 percent, of them had been completed. The total investment had surpassed 122 billion yuan ($88.2 billion), executive deputy mayor Zhao Yong said.

Executive deputy mayor Zhao Yong

By October 31, among the 38 Hong Kong and Macao assistance projects, 22 had been completed with an investment of 2.671 billion yuan.

Repair and reinforcement of housing for 487,000 rural households was completed at the end of June 2009. Construction of permanent housing for 199,600 rural households was completed at the end of January 2010. Reconstruction of permanent housing for 45,408 urban households has been completed.

The overall living conditions of people affected by the earthquake are better than before the earthquake, the executive mayor said.

Guangyuan has witnessed rapid economic growth during its reconstruction. In 2010, its GDP rose by 52.3 percent over 2007, he said.

Guangyuan has stressed environmental protection in its reconstruction and closed many pollution-causing firms. It has placed importance on the development of clean energy such as solar and wind energy.

Sixty-five percent of its urban residents have access to natural gas. Rural residences mainly adopt the light steel and wood structure. Construction of light steel and wood structure housing for more than 60,000 households has been completed, saving around 2 billion yuan, he said.

The low-carbon concept has found its way into communities, government offices and schools in the city. Buses and taxis in the city have replaced oil with gas. And the project to promote the use of energy-saving lamps has been implemented in its rural areas.