Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration involves 150 million people

The integration of China's capital Beijing and its two neighboring provincial areas will give the region a powerful boost, the way the City of Los Angeles rose to prosperity after annexation with surrounding gateway counties, chinanews.com reported Tuesday.

Cao Heping, an economist from Peking University, said regional cooperation among Bejing, Tianjin municipality and Hebei province, which involves more than 50 counties and contains 150 million people, is expected to bring about tremendous economic progress in northeastern China by 2050, an earthshaking event.

Cao recommends administrative departments allow resources to flow freely, and let the market lead the way in resource allocation during the regional integration.

Officials from Beijing, Hebei province and Tianjin municipality are working on a joint development plan that aims to improve the region's overall competitiveness, Beijing Morning Post reported Tuesday, citing a senior Beijing municipal planning official.

According to the plan, Beijing will relocate less important industries and divert population to neighboring cities in Hebei, to ease population pressure in the capital and beef up the competitiveness of the surrounding areas, Huang Yan, Director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning, revealed on a Radio Beijing program on Monday.