The Chinese capital Beijing is trying to ease urban sprawl by building an administrative 'sub-center' in its eastern Tongzhou district. The city government has been holding its half year meeting on the economic situation. Mayor Wang Anshun said some office buildings under construction will have their roofs sealed this year. The massive relocation project is part of efforts to reduce congestion and pollution, in what's being called a "new type of urbanization". For more on this, we are joined in the studio by CCTV's Jin Yingqiao.
Q1. Tell us how this concept for a "sub-center" came about.
A1. Well, the concept started long ago, the overarching message is that the city is too big, and too hard to live in. All functions of a city are concentrated here, economy, politics, culture, transportation hub, scientific research. It's the nation's capital, the Chinese version of Hollywood and Silicon Valley combined. It has the country's best hospitals and universities. Downtown is rated as a top international city, but its surrounding areas, and neighboring cities like Tianjin and Shijiazhuang have their resources being drained away to Beijing, and their development level stands in sharp contrast. And people continue to flow in. Official data shows a permanent population of about 22 million at the end of last year, but the social insurance records show that the number has surpassed 30 million. Only Tokyo and Jakarta come close. The idea to build a new administrative center started years ago. President Xi Jinping has also given the go-ahead to brand Beijing as the nation's center for politics, culture, international exchange, and scientific and technological innovation. That means other functions should leave the capital.
Q2. So tell us what the obstacles are, as this project involves so much.
A2. Right, essentially, this is a project to give full play to the downtown area's function as the capital, and moving others out. Those that have made the move include some highly-polluting factories and small commodity markets...but it's not easy to move so much of those non-capital functions, and the Beijing government is pioneering the project itself. The city government office building is already under construction, and projects for hospitals, schools and housing are in place. The lack of these facilities is one of the primary reasons people don't want to move out. And there's the Universal Studio park... And for people over 40, since they have married and bought houses, it's unrealistic to move the whole family to Tongzhou, so there will be dormitories built for them. For those under 30, many of them still single, they will get subsidized homes. The whole project hopes to get about 400 thousand people to relocate. And it's not unprecedented: Shanghai's Pudong New Area was also deemed a sub-city center on a national level. It's now the new metropolitan center. Political will is strong...and we will see a new Beijing outside the Sixth Ring Road.
