Xiongan New Area's master plan: Highlights

APD NEWS

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China on Saturday published the master plan for Xiongan New Area, creation of which is "a strategic decision with profound historic significance made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core."

The 10-chapter document, which is the fundamental guideline on the planning and development of Xiongan New Area, lists overall development goals for the new area.

By 2035, Xiongan will develop into a modern city that is green, intelligent, and livable, with relatively strong competitiveness and harmonious human-environment interaction.

By the middle of the century, it will become a significant part of the world-class Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei city cluster, effectively performing Beijing's non-capital functions and providing the Chinese solution to "big city malaise."

Let's take a look at the nine highlights of the newly released document.

1. Developing scientific and reasonable layout

The document says that priority shall go to ecological protection with the new area pursuing green development. With the total area of construction land set at about 530 square kilometers, Xiongan will strictly control land use and cap its land development intensity at 30 percent.

About 10 percent of the new area's land will be put under permanent protection as basic farmland, while the population density will be no more than 10,000 people per square kilometer.

People pass a flowerbed on a street in Rongcheng county, Xiongan New Area, Hebei province, on March 29, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

** 2.Shaping the city landscape for a new era**

Xiongan's architecture and layout will combine both traditional cultural elements and world's best design philosophies. Cultural heritages will be well preserved and properly utilized.

Archaeological parks, museums of ancient ruins and exhibition halls will be erected, and the protection of historic cities and villages will be integrated into city construction.

This aerial photo taken on March 30, 2018 shows a tourist pier in the Baiyangdian Lake in Xiongan New Area, North China's Hebei province. [Photo/Xinhua]

3. Building a beautiful natural ecology and environment

The document says that ecological restoration work will be started in Baiyangdian Lake, including restoring the lake's area to 360 square kilometers. Meanwhile, water pollution will be treated while the forest coverage rate will rise from 11 percent to 40 percent.

Moreover, a negative list will be implemented to close down and ward off high-pollution and energy-intensive production. In the long term, Baiyangdian National Park will be established.

Facial recognition technology is used at the construction sites in Xiaongan New Area to check in workers. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin / China Daily]

4. Developing high-end and hi-tech industries

The document says the new area will be at the forefront of cutting-edge technology, map out tech industries at a high starting point, and push for coordinated development of the real economy, technological innovation, finance and human resources.

Major industries to thrive in the area will include information, biotechnology, new materials, modern services, and green agriculture.

Xiongan will strive to build first-class technology and innovation platforms in the world, with best research universities to foster talents and innovative policies and mechanisms to serve growth tech firms.

Employees of China State Decoration Group work in the Xiongan Citizen Service Center on March 29, 2018. The prefabricated building took about four months to build. [Photo by Wang Jing / China Daily]

5. Providing quality shared public services

The new area will provide quality public facilities and services to its dwellers and form a diversified housing system. As a livable and business-friendly city, it will put property developments under strict control and establish a long-term mechanism to prevent speculation in the real estate market.

Baiyangdian Station. [Photo/VCG]

6. Construction of fast and highly-efficient transportation network

Xiongan plans to build a fast and highly-efficient transportation network. By high-speed railway, it will take only 20 minutes to travel from Xiongan to Beijing's planned new airport in Daxing district, 30 minutes to Beijing and Tianjin, and an hour to Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province.

The Xiongzhou Gate is seen in Xiongxian county, Xiongan New Area, Hebei province, on March 22, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

7. Building a green and smart new city

In Xiongan, a green and low-carbon way of production, living, as well as building and administering the area will be promoted. For instance, advanced environmental-friendly and energy-saving materials and techniques will be widely used in the construction of the new area.

The plan also stresses building Xiongan into a digital city. The new area will step up the construction of intelligent infrastructure, and set up a smart mode of city administration and a management system for data asset.

Two villagers rest in front of a tile billboard in Baita village, Rongcheng county, Xiongan New Area, on March 29, 2018. [Photo by WANG JING/CHINA DAILY]

8. Fostering modernized city security system

A modernized city security system will be established in Xiongan, with complete high-standard disaster-preventing and disaster-alleviating facilities, so that the new area can quickly respond to disasters and emergencies and develop safe and sound.

A postal staff worker shows the commemorative stamps for the establishment of Xiongan New Area stamped on an envelope in Xicheng district, Beijing, on Dec 22, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

9. Ensuring orderly and effective implementation of the plan

Xiongan New Area is historical heritage for future generations. The country should be patient, and stick to this plan with a big view of history. Planning system should be improved, as well as related policy regulations and technical rules.

(CHINA DAILY)