By Zhang Jiaqi
Beijing's sub-center will ramp up efforts for high-quality development through planning, construction, governance, and economic and social development, the city announced at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office of China on Wednesday.
The business district along the Grand Canal in Beijing's Tongzhou district. [Photo/Xinhua]
Development will be focused on four major functions, including technological innovation, administration, business services, and culture and tourism, said Cui Shuqiang, executive vice mayor of Beijing Municipal People's Government.
Specifically, the sub-center will implement national major technological projects and demonstrative projects, as well as new pilot policies of the Zhongguancun National Innovation Demonstration Zone. It also plans to pilot services at the business district along the Grand Canal, the design town in Zhangjiawan, and the pilot free trade zone.
Starting this year, some universities and hospitals and headquarters of centrally-administered state-owned enterprises in Beijing have started to relocate to the sub-center. Cui said that, in January 2019, 165 units of 35 government departments of municipal government had already moved there, and the second batch will move there next year or the year after.
In terms of culture and tourism, the Universal Studios Beijing theme park opened on Sept. 20, and the 40-kilometer Beijing section and the 20-kilometer Hebei section of the Grand Canal have both opened for vessels. By next July, the two sections will be connected, and navigation services between Beijing and Hebei on the canal will be available to the public, Cui said.
The pursuit for high-quality development in the sub-center will be of great significance for relocating non-capital functions, developing a new hub for regional development, and boosting integrated high-quality development of neighboring areas, said Cong Liang, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission.
Recently, China's State Council released a guideline on promoting the high-quality development of Beijing's sub-center and easing the non-capital functions of Beijing. According to the document, the sub-center will develop functions of a green city, forest city, sponge city, smart city, cultural city, and livable city by 2025, and become a modernized sub-center by 2035.
