New buildings under construction; city hopes to improve its public services

The capital plans to move most of its municipal departments to the suburban district of Tongzhou in 2017, the Beijing Municipal Committee announced on Wednesday.

All or most of the municipal government's departments will move, as the office buildings are scheduled to be completed that year.

Tongzhou was designated as the site of a new administrative center for the municipal government to help relieve the current heavy pressure on public services in downtown Beijing, where the central government is located.

The relocation is also part of the integration plan for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cluster, which aims to ease congestion in the capital and achieve more balanced development in the region.

According to the announcement, the new administrative center in Tongzhou will put infrastructure upgrades and ecological improvement on top of the agenda. The municipal government hopes to improve public services in education, healthcare, cultural events and industries in the district.

Meanwhile, villages within the city's boundaries will be overhauled and low-end manufacturers and logistics companies removed.

"A total of 297 projects will be carried out in Tongzhou, such as building new subway lines and expressways, and improving ecologies," Lu Yan, director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform, said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Last week, Lu was appointed director of the office for Beijing's Leading Group of Promoting Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Integration Development, a move to accelerate Beijing's moves to coordinate with Tianjin and Hebei province.

The projects will also cover infrastructure programs such as new connections between Tongzhou and downtown Beijing, sewage and waste water disposal, and energy facilities. Cultural projects will be carried out to provide more employment opportunities, as the construction proceeds on a Universal Studios theme park and a training facility for the National Center for Performing Arts, Lu said.

Lu also said high-quality hospitals will be built in Tongzhou and new towns in other suburban districts to attract downtown residents and ease traffic jams and other congestions in crowded downtown areas.

Contact the writers at huyongqi@chinadaily.com.cn and linshujuan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/26/2015 page5)