The Tianmu Lake Animal Kingdom Cultural Tourism Complex Project (hereinafter referred to as the Animal Kingdom Project), a key cultural and tourism industry project in Jiangsu Province, has been launched for only one year and is planned to invest 3.55 billion yuan, recently reported that it has been suspended. Local people familiar with the matter said that the project may be forced to shut down due to dual pressure from funds and environmental protection, and the project's environmental impact assessment procedures are missing.
According to the WeChat official account of Liyang Media Center "China Liyang", the Animal Kingdom project plans to invest 3.55 billion yuan, covering an area of about 1,800 acres, and is located in the scenic Tianmu Lake Tourism Resort.
In response, The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) confirmed with Yang Bin, chairman of Tianmu Lake Animal Kingdom Tourism Company and Wang Hua, deputy director of Liyang Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau, and no response was received until the publication. On September 11, a relevant person in charge of the Propaganda Department of the Liyang Municipal Party Committee confirmed to The Paper that the project has indeed been suspended and social capital introduction is underway.
The Tianmu Lake Animal Kingdom Cultural and Tourism Complex project, which has started construction less than a year, has been suspended. Photo provided by the interviewee
Provincial key projects have been suspended within one year
According to "Liyang, China", on August 15, 2024, the groundbreaking ceremony of the Animal Kingdom project was held. The project is planned to invest 3.55 billion yuan, covering an area of about 1,800 acres, and is located in the scenic Tianmu Lake Tourism Resort. The project is characterized by "animals + amusement" and aims to create a comprehensive tourist destination integrating viewing, entertainment, interaction and leisure, which will bring tourists a rich and colorful viewing and interactive experience. At the same time, advanced amusement equipment, as well as various cultural and creative performances and reality shows, allowing tourists to experience the unique charm of the Tianmu Lake animal kingdom in an immersive experience. The project has been included in Jiangsu Province’s key cultural and tourism industry projects, Jiangsu Province’s key service industry projects list, Changzhou City’s major industrial construction project database, etc.
Public information shows that Tianmuhu Animal Kingdom Tourism Company, the operator of the Animal Kingdom project, was established in April 2022 with a registered capital of 430 million yuan. The shareholders are Yangcuncun Share Economic Cooperative in Tianmuhu Town, Liyang City (accounting for 77% of the shares), Jiangsu Liyang Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd. (accounting for 18.4% of the shares), and Jiangsu Tianmuhu Tourism Co., Ltd. (accounting for 4.6% of the shares).
A provincial key cultural and tourism project was suspended in July this year, less than a year before the project started.
Public information shows that on October 25, 2024, December 1, 2024, and May 8, 2025, the local government inspected the project construction three times or held on-site promotion meetings for project construction, requiring project parties and local departments to "make every effort to solve various problems encountered in project construction", "strengthen efforts to overcome the contradictions of problems" and "ensure that the project is always promoted on the right track."
There were problems with environmental assessment and other procedures and funds. The official response said that social capital is being introduced
What exactly is the problem with the Animal Kingdom project?
According to a person familiar with the project, the Animal Kingdom project is a large project. In order to promote the overall project, the project is divided into commercial towns and entrance square projects, Liyang southern mountainous wildlife rescue center project, parks and logistics center project and other sub-projects.
Among them, Tianmu Lake Animal Kingdom Tourism Company applied for a construction land planning license for the park and logistics center project from the Liyang Municipal Government Service Management Office on December 5, 2024. After review, the Liyang Municipal Government Service Management Office found that the content of the company's application was inconsistent with the land planning purpose, so it decided not to grant an administrative license. In other words, the park and logistics center projects have not obtained a construction land planning license. According to regulations, construction shall not be started without obtaining a construction land planning license.
The aforementioned person familiar with the matter also introduced that there is another crucial factor that has stuck to the construction of the Animal Kingdom project: the project's environmental impact assessment is missing. In order to deal with the missing project environmental impact assessment, the project split the environmental impact assessment. By breaking the whole into pieces, it attempts to replace the overall environmental impact assessment of 1,800 acres of projects through the construction of small venues.
According to "Liyang, China", the Animal Kingdom project is located in the well-known Tianmu Lake Tourism Resort, about 8 kilometers away from Tianmu Lake Mountain and Water Park and Nanshan Bamboo Sea.
Tianmu Lake Protection Area Demarcation Map
According to the "Tianmu Lake Protection Plan (2024-2035)" (draft), the total area of the Tianmu Lake Protection Area includes the Shahe Reservoir and Daxi Reservoir in Liyang City and their basin (within the administrative jurisdiction of Liyang City), the total area is about 201.5 square kilometers. Among them, the space range of the core protected area is about 36.8 square kilometers, the space range of the important protected area is about 107.9 square kilometers, and the space range of the general protected area is about 56.8 square kilometers.
The Paper noticed that the Animal Kingdom project is located within the important protection area of Tianmu Lake. According to the above-mentioned draft plan, important protected areas are centered on water conservation protection, forest protection, and wetland protection, and new construction, reconstruction, or expansion of pollutant emission projects are prohibited. Searching the information disclosure column on the official website of Liyang Municipal Government found that there was no announcement of the approval decision for the environmental impact assessment documents of the Animal Kingdom project made by the ecological environment department or the publication of the acceptance of the acceptance.
The aforementioned person familiar with the matter also said that in addition to the approval procedures, there are also some problems with the project funds, which is also the direct reason for the suspension of work. Regarding this statement, Yang Bin, chairman of Tianmu Lake Animal Kingdom Tourism Company, once said that the project is currently introducing social capital, and the construction plan should be further optimized and adjusted, and the construction of the relevant areas should be postponed before the adjustment plan is determined.
The Tianmu Lake Animal Kingdom Cultural and Tourism Complex project, which has started construction less than a year, has been suspended. Photo provided by the interviewee
About the suspension of the Animal Kingdom project and the reasons, The Paper asked Yang Bin, chairman of Tianmu Lake Animal Kingdom Tourism Company, and Wang Hua, deputy director of Liyang Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau, respectively, and no response was received until the publication. On September 11, a relevant person in charge of the Propaganda Department of the Liyang Municipal Party Committee confirmed to The Paper that the project has indeed been suspended and social capital introduction is underway. However, the person in charge did not disclose whether the project suspension was related to the environmental impact assessment.
Source: The Paper
