A massive new economic megalopolis - integrating more than 100 million people living in Beijing, Tianjin and the neighbouring province of Hebei - will become an independent region influencing its own urban planning over the next five years, according to an official report released on Tuesday. The idea to link the three areas into one massive megalopolis is said to be a pet project by President and party chief Xi Jinping . He believes the model for the new metropolis can become a template for China's future urbanisation. Its 216,000 sq km size will dwarf the 177,879 sq km size of Uruguay, while its combined population will be roughly the same as Japan, the world's tenth most populous nation. The region will have a combined gross domestic product of more than 6 trillion yuan (HK$7.6 trillion), making it China's third main economic engine after the Pearl River and Yangtze River deltas. "The cities of Beijing and Tianjin and Hebei province will work together with central agencies to draft a unified 13th five-year plan," reported the Economic Information Daily , an affiliate to the state-run news agency Xinhua. The 13th five-year plan covers the years from 2016 to 2020. The newspaper said the megalopolis' five-year plan would incorporate three major proposals - covering economic and social development; urban and rural planning; and land use in the three regions - into one comprehensive plan. The megalopolis would also devise separate plans for land use, urban and rural planning, and ecological and environmental protection, it said. Beijing party chief Guo Jinlong said the draft of Beijing's next five-year plan should be incorporated into the central government's development plan for the three regions. Guo was referring to the guidelines for the development of the Jing-Jin-Ji region - shorthand for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei - which was approved by the ruling party's top decision-making Politburo in late April. The newspaper quoted Beijing's mayor, Wang Anshun , as saying that Beijing's five-year plan would aim to implement the central government's guidelines for the development of the Jing-Jin-Ji region. Analysts said the 13th five-year national development plan would revolve around the concept of economic belts and economic zones, including the Jing-Jin-Ji region, the Silk Road Economic Belt, the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and the Yangtze River economic belt. Hong Hao, chief economist and managing director of the investment bank Bocom International, said that the move was "a significant step forward for Beijing regarding its urban planning". "With transportation infrastructure between cities greatly improved, some of Beijing's functions can be shared by its neighbouring cities." However, Shen Jianguang, chief economist at Mizuho Securities, was concerned that the megalopolis plan would have difficulty in overcoming objections from groups with "vested interests". He was also concerned that it would concentrate economic activity in one area. The plan's success would rely upon the implementation of other reforms, he said.
