China is on to a new paradigm. Will it be as spectacular as the earlier paradigm or will it be a white elephant. We will know after a decade or so.
Established in April 2017.
The area is located about 100 km southwest of Beijing and 50 km east of downtown Baoding. Its main function is to serve as a development hub for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (Jingjinji) economic triangle. Additionally, "non-core" functions of the Chinese capital are expected to migrate here, including offices of some state-owned enterprises, government agencies, and research and development facilities.
The area covers the regions of Xiong, Rongcheng and Anxin. Its name is a compound of the first elements of the names of two of them: Xiong and Anxin. The construction of the area is described as part of the "millennium strategy"Unlike other "new areas", Xiong'an's development is taking place under the direct oversight of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council.
This video provides details about one of the most important personal projects of Xi Jinping: the construction of a new city hailed as the emblem of all China and perhaps even its future capital.
The Chinese government has already begun work to build a new metropolis completely from scratch that will achieve an old dream of many of China’s Communist Party leaders: to achieve a sustainable model that works completely separately from market forces.
A change of paradigm where the government, the State and Xi Jinping himself want to play a more leading role in the development of the territory and the local networks that make up the economic and social fabric. This is contrary to what has been done so far with the Special Economic Zones that have fueled the spectacular development that China has experienced over the last decades.
Building a Vice Capital
One of the primary incentives for the establishment of Xiong’an is to shift functions that do not require immediate proximity to the seat of government away from Beijing in order to ease burdens on urban administration caused by issues such as over-population, traffic congestion and soaring housing prices. To better structure the capital’s urban environment, a significant number of state-owned enterprises’ operational centers, educational and health institutions, research centers, corporate headquarters as well as high-tech and finance firms are gradually being moveed.
Xiong’an will also serve as a catalyst for the development of the wider Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, sometimes referred to as Jing-Jin-Ji. In particular, the project is being designed to help transform Hebei from a relatively poor agricultural region into a technological innovation hub. The overall objective is to create a new engine of growth for China’s economy in core areas.
More details here
The Xiong’an New Economic Zone may end up being the largest and most expensive urbanisation project in China’s recent history. Financial firm Morgan Stanley estimates that the Xiong’an project could represent an investment of up to 2.4 trillion yuan (US$348 billion) by the time of completion, far superseding Beijing’s 2008 Olympic Games infrastructure investment of 290 billion yuan, China’s largest infrastructure project to date. Xiong’an is expected to expand by 20 times its initial territory in a time frame of 10 years, eventually encompassing about three times the territory of New York City, and ballooning its population to 6.7 million people from the approximately 300,000 people currently living in and around that area. Hebei province, where Xiong’an will be established, is still vastly underdeveloped and much poorer compared to its neighbors Beijing and Tianjin; Xiong’an is expected to bring about much needed redistribution of wealth to the westward poverty-stricken villages in the region.
Details here
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