SHIJIAZHUANG, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Dubbed China's youngest city and a "city of the future," Xiong'an New Area marks its fifth anniversary on Friday.
China announced plans to establish Xiong'an New Area on April 1, 2017, to relieve Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as the national capital and advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
Xiong'an in north China's Hebei Province is about 100 km away from Beijing.
China's centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are actively taking part in the construction of the Xiong'an New Area and have set up more than 100 subsidiaries and branches in the area, according to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.
Data from the state assets regulator shows these subsidiaries and branches have entered sectors including infrastructure construction, frontier information technologies, advanced biological technologies, modern service, energy, and new materials.
So far, more than 3,000 enterprises have registered in Xiong'an, with 80 percent of these being scientific and technological enterprises from Beijing.
To provide quality public service, Beijing-based universities, hospitals, and schools are building or will build branches in Xiong'an, or entering into partnerships with Xiong'an counterparts.
China's leadership has pledged to build Xiong'an into an innovative, green, smart, and world-class city with blue skies, fresh air, and clean water, and every inch of land in the area will be carefully planned.
Transport has become more convenient as the Beijing-Xiong'an intercity railway opened to traffic in December 2020. Travel time from Beijing West Railway Station to Xiong'an was cut from one and a half hours to about 50 minutes. It takes only 19 minutes to travel from Beijing Daxing International Airport, another key project for the regional coordinated development strategy, to Xiong'an.
In the first quarter this year, construction began on 43 projects in industries, public services, infrastructure and ecological preservation in Xiong'an, with a total investment of 60 billion yuan.
Through 2022, 232 major projects are planned for launch in Xiong'an, with a total investment of 700 billion yuan, and over 200 billion yuan of it will be spent this year alone.
Produced by Xinhua Global Service
