Xiongan New Area sees progress one year after establishment

Sunday marks the first anniversary of China's Xiongan New Area, which is designed to become the core driving force for coordinated development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

As CRI's Guan Chao reports, rapid progress has been made in the development of the new area over the past year.

The Xiongan Civil Service Center is the first infrastructure project in the New Area.

Zhai Wei, the director of China Xiongan Construction and Investment Group, revealed that the center will open to the public in two weeks. The center will be a hub for government services, exhibitions and exchanges, and corporate offices.

"The CPC Central Committee has stressed multiple times that 'Xiongan quality' should be created in keeping with the requirements of high-quality development. Since the beginning of the first project, we have been contributing to the buildup of a "Xiongan quality system" with project quality as the premise."

Baiyangdian is a lake surrounded by Xiongan's three major counties. The lake is crucial for the green development of the new area.

Over the past year, the local government has dredged the rivers that flow into the lake, and closed thousands of polluting companies nearby.

As Xiongan is designed to become one of the best cities in China to live in, the concept of ecology protection has been prioritized in the area's development.

Last August, authorities started to increase the forest cover of the area. So far, two and a half million trees have been planted, as part of what Xu Chengli, who is leading the effort, calls the "blue and green project".

"Blue refers to the Baiyangdian Lake; and green means urban forests. The two overlapping colors will account for 70 percent of the land of the New Area. The area's forest cover will be 40 percent, which is double the national average."

The Xiongan New Area is designed to be a home for government functions that are currently located in Beijing but that are not directly related to the capital city.

Strategic cooperation agreements between Xiongan New Area, Beijing, and Tianjin were signed last year.

In February this year, construction started on the Beijing-Xiongan intercity railway, which will slash travel time to the new city.

And on March 1st, four Beijing elementary schools began to build new campuses in the Xiongan New Area.

In addition, finance, insurance, communications and medical care services that are essential for day-to-day life in the new area have also been established.

So far 19 major enterprises, including e-commerce heavyweights Alibaba and Tencent, have signed strategic cooperation agreements with Xiongan. And more than 100 high-end hi-tech companies have agreed to open businesses in the new area.

Wang Shuqi is with Beijing Eyecool Technology Corporation.

"The smart technology sector in Xiongan needs to be planned from scratch, which will provide soil for us to expand the frontier of possibilities."

Xiongan is expected to help make the most out of the industrial sector in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and create a new center for the country's economic growth.