en.Wedoany.com Reported - An eco-tourism project in Sulongkou Town, Yuanping City, Xinzhou, Shanxi, invested 98.32 million yuan, has been left unfinished and long vacant due to its remote location and insufficient visitor traffic. The project was launched in 2021 and completed in December 2022. After completion, a large number of antique-style buildings, water landscape projects, and supporting facilities within the scenic area were damaged or left idle, with few tourists and minimal returns.
The "Aimutu" scenic area in Sulongkou Town is deeply hidden in a remote village surrounded by mountains, approximately 50 kilometers from downtown Yuanping. The village has a permanent population of only about 30 people, with inconvenient transportation and a lack of natural and cultural conditions for tourism development. Within the scenic area, many projects such as an antique-style street stretching several kilometers, a visitor service center, a snack street, homestays, and a hilltop observation deck have been damaged. A multi-story unfinished antique building and a small bridge made of white marble stand in the mountains, parking lot facilities are damaged, and the foundation of a public restroom has settled. Local villagers primarily live in cave dwellings and make a living by growing corn, contrasting sharply with the newly built image projects.
In December 2025, the Special Working Mechanism Office for Rectifying Formalism and Reducing Burdens at the Grassroots Level under the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee, together with the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection Office, issued a notice stating that Ma Zhiqiang, former Party Secretary of Yuanping City, in an attempt to achieve quick results, knowingly decided to develop and construct this eco-tourism project despite the remote location of Sulongkou Town, inconvenient transportation, and tight municipal financial resources. Ma Zhiqiang, who took office in May 2021, immediately conducted intensive inspections of Mutu and other villages, proposing the goal of creating a 4A-level scenic area. In August 2024, Ma Zhiqiang was investigated for suspected serious violations of discipline and law.
Data shows that in 2021, Yuanping City's general public budget revenue was 990 million yuan, with expenditures of 3.43 billion yuan and a debt balance of 3.593 billion yuan, essentially exhausting the annual debt quota. In the same year, the Yuanping City Development and Reform Bureau still approved the feasibility study report for this project, with an estimated investment of 96.8402 million yuan and a construction period from September 2021 to September 2022. The final settlement investment increased to 98.32 million yuan. After the project was completed, the scenic area attracted few tourists, making it difficult to meet the standards for creating an A-level scenic area.
A spokesperson from the Yuanping City Party Committee Publicity Department stated that the rectification work will be promoted in three phases: the first phase involves environmental improvement and facility maintenance without additional investment; the second phase aims to revitalize effective resources by the end of December 2027; and the third phase will deploy practical business formats to attract visitors. Measures include comprehensive environmental remediation, safety inspections, facility maintenance, improving tourism services, revitalizing idle resources, exploring local culture, and precise promotional efforts to draw traffic.
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