RULES for the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area were approved by the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on Thursday.

    The development needs approximately a total investment of 4.2 trillion yuan (US$666 billion) over six years, according to the Ministry of Finance.

    The main task will be to transfer administrative functions from Beijing to neighboring areas and improve living conditions in the densely populated areas.

    China will readjust the economic structure in the area to create new growth sectors and control Beijing’s population.

    Priority will be given to traffic management, environmental protection, energy security and industrial upgrades.

    Public services will be improved and the area will be made into a more comfortable environment for foreign enterprises. Innovation will be encouraged.

    The top leadership asked that institutional barriers to the strategy be removed and pilot programs launched as soon as possible.

    The idea of a regional cooperative bloc is not a new one for China. Shanghai’s Yangtze River Delta and Guangzhou’s Pearl River Delta have brought economic booms to their cities thanks to coordinated industrial and commercial partnerships.

    This push will concentrate on infrastructure development in Hebei Province, enriching Tianjin’s industrial pattern and easing Beijing’s urban malaise, Yi Peng, an urban development researcher, told Xinhua News Agency in a previous interview.

    (Xinhua)