Xiongan New Area vital to coordinated development around Beijing: Hebei party chief

SHIJIAZHUANG - Establishing the Xiongan New Area and developing the area to absorb non-capital functions from Beijing are vital measures to advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, said Zhao Kezhi, party chief of Hebei province Wednesday.

China announced Saturday it will establish the Xiongan New Area in Hebei province, about 100 km southwest of downtown Beijing, spanning three counties.

"Establishment of the Xiongan New Area comes against the backdrop of advancing coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The move is of huge significance for long-term development in the region," said Zhao, secretary of Hebei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

"Xiongan features geological advantages, convenient transportation, an excellent environment, ample resources and lots of room for development," said Zhao. "The area is the first choice for pooling some non-capital functions from Beijing."

Beijing has announced it will move some municipal administrative organs from the downtown area to the east suburb of Tongzhou.

Xiongan and Tongzhou will form "two wings" for Beijing, said Zhao, adding that the new area is conducive to optimizing the region's urban layout and exploring a new model of optimized development in densely populated areas.

The announcement attracted investors to the counties of Xiongxian, Rongcheng and Anxin in the new area, driving up housing prices there.

The preparatory committee of the new area said Tuesday it will control illegal land and housing purchases as well as construction. The committee had discovered 765 real estate violations, and seven people had been arrested for real estate violations as of April 4.

"The new area aims to become a gathering place for high-tech industries, not a place for large-scale real estate investment and property speculation," said Zhao.