Concrete AnalysisCapital economic region finally starts making progress
Capital Economic Region, which will impact 8.2pc of the mainland population, finally begins to move forward at a faster clip
The concept of a capital economic region, with Beijing and Tianjin at its core surrounded by 11 cities in Hebei province in a massive hub and spoke formation, was first announced in 2004.
However, from the outset, the allocation of capital and intellectual resources has been heavily skewed in favour of the two super-core cities. This imbalance has led to their much faster growth, but also much more severe problems of urban governance, precisely the matters that the master plan for the region is intended to rectify.
The implementation of the plan has moved forward rather slowly and has been characterised by extensive periods of internal study, review and discussion. Presumably, there has also been a lot of behind-the-scenes wrangling involving the main stakeholders.
While Beijing has made some improvements in traffic management in recent years, the fundamental issues that threaten to render the city dysfunctional have not been addressed.
Hence, it was towards the end of the first winter after he assumed the presidency that Xi Jinping put his foot down. In a work meeting in February, he vented his frustration at the growing human, industrial and environmental pressures that are being brought to bear on the national capital.
Xi stated the city must relocate some of its non-core functions and stop expanding
Xi emphatically stated that the city must relocate some of its non-core functions outwards to surrounding cities in Hebei and stop “expanding like a pancake”. He pointed out the need to adopt a “top-down design approach” in finalising the master plan for establishing the region and insisted that its three main stakeholders must bury their differences and get over the mentality of “everyone just minding their own garden patch”.