The city of Yangzhou in east China won the United Nations'
Habitat Scroll of Honor award for 2006 on Wednesday for work in
preserving the old city and improving the residential
environment.
City officials received the award, given by the UN Human
Settlements Program (UN-Habitat), at a ceremony in the Volga River
city of Kazan as part of global celebrations of the World Habitat
Day, which fell on Monday.
The Yangzhou municipal government in Jiangsu Province is awarded for "conservation
of the old city and improving the residential environment," the
UN-Habitat said in a statement on its official web site.
"The municipal government has been working continuously to
protect the integrity of the old city as industrialization in the
city advances," Ji Jianye, the city's top official, told Xinhua in
a telephone interview.
Over the past five years, the city has solved housing problems
for over 100,000 residents, Ji said.
The Habitat Scroll of Honor award, launched in 1989, is the
world's most prestigious human settlements award given by the
United Nations to honor individuals and institutions that have been
instrumental in improving the living conditions in urban centers
around the world.
Individuals and institutions from Brazil, France,
Egypt, Italy, the Philippines and Russia also won this year's
award.
(Xinhua News Agency October 5, 2006)
