China drafting Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei development plan

Intensive efforts are being made to draft an integration development plan for Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province, a senior official of China's top economic planning body said Wednesday.

"The drafting work of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Coordinated Development Program has been deepened as we, together with other ministries, completed a research report after thorough studies," said Fan Hengshan, deputy secretary general of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), at a press conference in response to media questions.

The reason behind such a program is that the three neighboring areas are faced with problems in coordinating development, Fan said.

First, Beijing is overburdened by population and overloaded with city functions, and there is no clear-cut positioning of roles or functions for the three places, he told reporters.

There are also too many cities and townships in the region, which is bottlenecked by uneven development levels, a water resource shortage, and serious air pollution.

As for the timetable to finish the program, Fan said, "We would try to make it as early as possible while ensuring the quality of the program."