China: 700 mountains to be levelled to make way for new town The nation's most ambitious "mountain moving" project is slated for a patch of desert the outskirts of Lanzhou in the Gansu province and is estimated to cost £2.2bn, according to the Guardian. But developers hope the cost and effort will be worth it, with the new metropolis potentially able to boost the region's GDP by £27bn by 2030. The ambitious mountain-flattening is already underway, despite concerns over the effect it will have on the natural environment. Lanzhou, home to 3.6 million people, already has the nation's worst air pollution and the region is notoriously arid, with water in scarce supply. But a spokesman for the developers, China Pacific Construction Group, told the Guardian that the project would divert water to the region and promote reforestation.