China drafting Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei development plan

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

The program will be drafted to solve the problems of integrated development, reassessing and redefining the functions of the three localities in infrastructure, industrial upgrades and coordination, environmental protection, public services, and market system building, Fan said.

Another target of the program is efficiency of systems and mechanisms in the region, which should be an example for national transformation and institutional transition, with concrete support in finance, industry, investment, population, social security, environmental protection and land.

Fan's statement came three months after President Xi Jinping called for integrated, coordinated development of the region around Beijing in terms of functions, industrial distribution, urban layout, transportation, and others, with detailed measures in finance, investment and project schedules.

The idea of a regional cooperative bloc is not a new one for China. Shanghai's Yangtze River Delta and the Guangzhou's Pearl River Delta have brought economic booms to their cities thanks to coordinated industrial and commercial partnerships.

This integration push will concentrate on infrastructure development in Hebei province, enriching Tianjin's industrial pattern, and by easing Beijing's urban malaise, Yi Peng, an urban development researcher, told Xinhua in a previous interview.