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February 18, 2014

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

City’s expansion planned as cure for urban ills

By Xu Wenwen | February 18, 2014, Tuesday | Print Edition

People in Xiaoshan and Yuhang, two districts of Hangzhou, have felt like “unwanted stepchildren” when municipal reports talked about policies valid in Hangzhou, then in parentheses mentioned “not including Xiaoshan or Yuhang.”

But that’s expected to change this year.

“Yuhang and Xiaoshan will be integrated into urban Hangzhou for purposes of administration,” according to the Hangzhou government work report issued last week at the Fourth Session of the 12th Hangzhou People’s Congress.

Aside from discussing the use of Qiandao Lake in Chun’an County as a new water source for Hangzhou, the report also talks about building railways to connect urban Hangzhou with Fuyang and Lin’an, two county-level cities.

It’s clear that the intent is for urban Hangzhou to draw communities next door closer to the center, which is “a step that must be taken during the city’s regional development,” said Zhou Fu, a professor at the Regional and Urban Planning Department of Zhejiang University.

Greater Hangzhou, like Greater London, which is comprised of London proper and its boroughs, now consists of urban Hangzhou, three suburban districts (Xiaoshan, Yuhang and Binjiang), two counties (Chun’an and Tonglu) and three county-level cities (Fuyang, Lin’an and Jiande).

But they are not so integrated.

Take Xiaoshan and Yuhang — the two districts, previously independent cities that became Hangzhou districts in 2001. They still run their own finances and administration today.

When the subway was built to connect urban Hangzhou to Yuhang and Xiaoshan, Hangzhou paid for the section in urban Hangzhou while the two districts paid for their own sections.

Yet to efficiently address urban ills like congested roads and high housing prices, many experts say Hangzhou needs to be expanded.

While housing prices remain high downtown, most new real estate projects are in suburban districts. Only a few very expensive ones with prices per square meter of up to 40,000 yuan (US$6,597) are in urban Hangzhou.

Also, traffic jams are common in the center, while getting around in the suburbs is rather easy.

“Urban integration can help solve those ills,” Zhou said.

Hangzhou Party Secretary Gong Zheng agreed, noting at the congressional session that “hopefully Xiaoshan can make more efforts to become integrated into urban Hangzhou, because that matters so much to the city’s development.”

Urban integration means unifying governmental finances and administration, and treating citizens in urban and suburban areas the same.

“Urban integration is not only about regional administration, but also about culture,” Fang Jun said at the session. Fang is a deputy in the Hangzhou People’s Congress, and also general manager of Hangzhou Public Traffic Xiaoshan Company.

“People in Xiaoshan always have felt distant from those in Hangzhou,” he said. “The government should encourage people in urban Hangzhou to move to Xiaoshan, with the prerequisite that Xiaoshan is treated like urban Hangzhou.”

Fang said that means public infrastructure such as top quality schools and hospitals should be built in Xiaoshan as well, and also that people in Xiaoshan will benefit from the same policies as those in urban Hangzhou.

Two county-level cities, Fuyang and Lin’an City, are also expected to get closer, as plans included in a government report would turn them into two counties of Hangzhou.

“It helps increase economic scale and allocate resources rationally, and hence upgrades the city,” said Hu Shuigen, professor of the College of Public Administration of Zhejiang University.

Though the plan won’t be carried out until the State Council approves, Fuyang is ready for the change, according to Fuyang authorities.

Fuyang, to the southwest and a half-hour drive to urban Hangzhou, “is happy for the change, and will prepare in the aspects of planning transportation, industry and environment,” said Fuyang Party Secretary Jiang Jun.

In the area of transportation, Zizhi Tunnel connecting Fuyang and west Hangzhou is under construction, and on the Chunyongxian Expressway in Fuyang, a section connecting Xiaoshan and Fuyang will be added.

Also, construction on Hangzhou Metro Line 6 is to start this year. The line will begin in south Hangzhou and end at Fuyang.

As to the environment, which is a big issue in Fuyang, where the papermaking industry is a traditional pillar of the economy, Jiang said their aim is to “make sure rivers in the city do not stink” by June.

Last year, Fuyang shut down 127 papermaking factories, and it will keep the number of such factories down to around 80 by next year.

Hu said the integration will upgrade public service in Fuyang and will benefit manufacturers there since they “can call themselves Hangzhou factories, not Fuyang factories.”

Another sub-city to be turned to a county, Lin’an, is over 45 kilometers east of urban Hangzhou, with Yuhang between them. Its officials are hoping for a subway connection to urban Hangzhou.

“Lin’an has neither a waterway nor an airway to the outside, so a subway is strongly expected,” said Zhang Jinliang, chairman of the Lin’an People’s Political Consultative Conference.

The city is planning an inter-urban railway that starts at the end of Hangzhou Metro Line 5 and reaches Lin’an.

“A railway to Hangzhou will be influential for Lin’an’s economy,” Zhang said, adding that it would be better to build one complex that could serve the railway and the terminal stop of Metro Line 5.

It is expected that construction of an inter-urban railway will start by next year, and it will be put into use in 2019, according to local authorities.

 

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