Final Report - Asian Development Bank

30 Main Report
Yuan, and (iii) third class (sloping land) will receive CNY 300 in the first year. The fixed return
will progressively increase by CNY 20 per year for all classes of land.
� Shareholding Profit Share Revenue: From the first year that QBG receives ticketing income
shareholders will receive their share of net revenue form the QNBG. The fixed return will stop
increasing once a profit share is received, but will be retained as part of the return to the land
share shareholders. The share value will be calculated on the basis of the price set up for the
50 years of the land user right. Sloping land will be valued at CNY 7,500/mu, dryland CNY
10,000/mu, and irrigation land CNY 12,500/mu. The value of the land use right from this
contract will be calculated against the total capital of the QBG. The proportion of revenue from
tickets will be shared on the share of land use right in the total capital of QBG. There is
however no indication of how other equity will be valued in the total share capital.
85. The Shaanxi Animal Rescue Center (SARC) currently operates from an existing site of
141 ha within the Lougauntai Forest Farm. The main rescue center is a 6 ha area for animal pens.
This area is open to the public. The current site is in poor repair with significant animal welfare issues.
The center attracts 30,000 tourist visitors per year mostly to glimpse panda, golden monkey, crested
ibis, and takin. The Project seeks to significantly expand and enhance the current facility to create it
as a center of excellence in the management and display of threatened indigenous species. As such
the center is intended to demonstrate to the rest of PRC the potential opportunities and benefits from
establishing international standards in the care and welfare of the animals within this ex-situ
conservation, education and research center.
86. The project will modernize the center to meet international standards by: (i) increasing the
personnel and their capacity in wildlife conservation, (ii) achieving more efficient rescue of wild
endangered animals and their rehabilitation, (ii) developing a high quality tourism site, (iv) increasing
the quantity and quality of research into wildlife, and (v) creating an awareness and education
program for visitors and local communities on wildlife and biodiversity. The Project will achieve this by
increasing the area of the rescue, breeding, research and husbandry facilities from the current 141 ha
to 1,112 ha. The enlargement will include the development of three satellite sites in more natural
environments for giant panda, crested ibis and golden monkey within the wider Project Area.
87. The satellite proposed for the Panda station is now to be located at the Hu Bao valley on
the periphery of the CDA about 2 miles south of the SARC existing site overcoming the concerns
raised of its location within the high biodiversity valley originally proposed. The PPTA still considers
the scale of the satellite for about 40 Pandas (with an additional 20 in the main center) to be a
concern. Population modeling indicates that without further wild captives, a capacity of 15 to 20 is
more than adequate in the medium term.
88. The current animal rescue and exposition site will complete a refurbishment and
reconstruction program designed to ensure animal welfare and animal presentation is world class.
The Project will provide an international design expert to prepare site layouts, design specification and
detailed terms of reference for the SARC design institute to follow in the completion of a detailed
engineering design. To avoid potential public and media ridicule, ADB should require the detailed
engineering design be reviewed by both ADB and the international expert to ensure compliance with
the TOR’s provided.
89. At Project completion the center will have 70% of the forage area developed and be able to
support 80% of total planned numbers of iconic species. The center will undertake the science for
controlled release of species from breeding centers as numbers and the science enables this to
occur. It is proposed that the giant Panda Breeding Center be expanded to include 10 nursery rooms,
32 enclosures, and a research and feed growing areas. The Crested Ibis Center will include
construction of a 140,000 sq m facility comprising an artificial wetland on which a large flight aviary
will be constructed to enable nesting colonies to be established. The Golden Monkey site will involve
10ha of forested/treed land that will support 30 animals.
90. Being located one hour drive from Xian provides the SARC a major marketing advantage over
competing panda attractions. It also has the added benefit of having access to other iconic Qinling
Mountain species. The rapid expansion of Chinese tourism and the central role of Xian and the
Terracotta Warriors in this growth offers a large accessible visitor population of both local and
international tourists. A visitation management program will be introduced.