Tonglu: River chief system upgrades with smart points platform

Tonglu county, East China's Zhejiang province, upgrages its river chief system with an intelligent river cloud platform, in which officials are assessed and ranked by points. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The river chief system was upgraded in Tonglu county, East China's Zhejiang province, this April with an intelligent river cloud platform, in which officials are assessed and ranked by points.

River chiefs need to organize and lead the management and protection of certain rivers and lakes, taking full responsibility for them. Tonglu has fully implemented the system since 2014 at county, town and village levels with 428 river chiefs appointed to date.

The intelligent platform assesses the workload of chiefs of the county and town level by a points system, in which chiefs are awarded points after finishing a task.

A beautiful view of Tonglu at sunset. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A town-level river chief earns five points by reporting a matter and six to seven after a patrol. Chiefs will also be ranked from five to three star levels with those below that level being rated as incompetent, at least according to their points.

With further implementation of the river chief system, not only will the environment improve but rivers will be more supportive of whole area tourism development in Tonglu.

A tourist zone has been set up centered on the Huyuan River in Xinhe Town, making it a river of recreation with water amusements, scenery appreciation, and other river-based attractions.

"Today, many villagers not only never throw garbage into the river, but also volunteer to protect and patrol along its banks. Both the environment and people are getting better," said Zhang Jianming, director of the township social affairs office of Xinhe country.

Tonglu, East China's Zhejiang province, makes great efforts to preserve rivers. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]