CHINA on Friday earmarked 290 billion yuan (US$45.45 billion) for manufacturing and industrial park projects to support its efforts to integrate Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province into a megacity, domestic media reported.

    The government hopes to ease pressures on its crowded capital by transferring industries further out into the integrated metropolis, which it says has a combined population of about 110 million people. It dubbed the area “Jing-Jin-Ji” last year, using shortened versions of the names of the cities and province.

    At present, over 80 industrial projects worth more than 120 billion yuan are already being transferred from Beijing to Hebei, the radio broadcaster said.(SD-Agencies)