China sets high standards for future economic zone
Print Edition
HIGH standards will be set for the proposed Xiongan New Area, an economic zone near Beijing designed to integrate the capital with its surrounding areas.
Key words in the building plans will be “international standards,” “Chinese characteristics,” “reform” and “innovation,” said He Lifeng, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top planning body.
Speaking to Xinhua news agency following Saturday’s announcement about the new area, he said the area must reach the standards of a first-class international city, and its architecture fully embody elements of Chinese culture.
Some 100 kilometers southwest of downtown Beijing, the new area is home to Baiyangdian, one of the largest freshwater wetlands in north China. With more than 140 lakes and covering an area of 360 square kilometers, the wetland is known as the “pearl” of the North China Plain.
A specific plan to control pollution and protect the wetland environment will be drafted as part of the new area blueprint, He said.
The decision to establish the new area is part of a greater strategy, which China initiated in 2014, to develop Beijing, the port city of Tianjin and Hebei Province to improve the region’s economic structure, environment and public services, and bridge the gap between the capital and the industrial and rural areas surrounding it.
Beijing, home to over 21 million people, is trying to curb population growth and relocate industries and other “non-capital functions” to Hebei as part of its efforts to cure “urban ills.”
Beijing’s growing population, which is approaching the 2020 target of 23 million, has resulted in traffic congestion, soaring property prices and an excessive burden on resources, He said.
Establishing the Xiongan New Area is “a very important integral part” of measures to transfer non-capital functions from Beijing.
Beijing will focus on its “capital functions,” serving as the country’s political and cultural center, and a center for international exchanges and science and technological innovation.
A number of wholesale markets in central areas have already been shut or relocated, and some of the city’s administration will be moved from center to the southeastern suburbs.
Innovation will be the fundamental driver in building and developing the Xiongan New Area, He said.
The area will create a favorable environment for innovation and attract the talent to help create a “high ground” for innovation.
He said reform was key to development, and new administrative, investment and financing models would be tried in the area.
A long-term and stable funding mechanism will be put in place, and private funds encouraged to play their part.
According to Saturday’s circular, the new area will be of the same national significance as the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, established in the 1980s, and the Shanghai Pudong New Area, set up in the 1990s.
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