Officials have ratified an action plan to weld three major population centers into a single economic entity to promote stronger growth and tackle 'urban diseases'.
The formation of a fully integrated world-class manufacturing and business hub in North China has moved a step closer after the governments of the three main centers involved accepted an official road map for the union.
The proposed Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei province cluster, which will have Beijing as its administrative center, will cover about 217,000 square kilometers and contain more than 200 counties and more than 100 million people. Last year, the combined GDP of the three centers was 6.65 trillion CNY (1.07 trillion USD).
The authors of the road map combine and streamline the centers' own development plans to produce a unified strategy designed to optimize allocation of resources and promote stronger economic growth.
Moreover, when the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) is implemented next year, Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei will follow a shared plan, instead of three separate approaches, the government says.
The three centers will play separate but interrelated, roles in boosting regional growth based on comprehensive analysis of their economies, current status, resources and other factors.