The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Thursday it has distributed the plan to develop city clusters along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River to the governments of Jiangxi, Hubei and Hunan provinces, as well as to relevant departments under the State Council.
The plan calls for the three provincial governments to strive to build the urban areas in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River into city clusters that can strongly support the Yangtze River economic belt.
Drawing up the plan to develop the city clusters - a strategy that will involve three provinces, 31 cities and will cover an area of 317,000 square kilometers - took around two years and was approved by the State Council on March 26.
Yu Hejun, deputy director of the Department of Regional Economy at the NDRC, said during a press conference in Beijing on Thursday that the city clusters have excellent potential.
"In a period where China's economy is facing great pressure, the city clusters along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River are expected to maintain an economic growth rate of more than 9 percent. This area is likely to become a new source of China's economic growth," said Yu.
Shen Yufang, a member of an advisory committee for the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Planning, told the Global Times on Thursday that most cities in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River are underdeveloped and still in the process of turning into mature city clusters.
Shen said that if the area is to develop into mature city clusters, it should first have a network of infrastructure that connects the cities.
"The building of such a network could be done step by step. The Chinese government could build the main transport lines, and then leave the local governments to perfect the network with branch line projects," Shen noted.
"Since it's a long-term task that requires a large amount of capital, it's better for the government not to rush it, but to do it in an orderly way."
Shen said that a comprehensive infrastructure network would be vital for the area to become more market-orientated. "More private entrepreneurs would spring up and market reform could take place naturally."
Li Guoping, president of the Capital Development Institute at Peking University, told the Global Times on Thursday that what the cities in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River urgently need are distinctive high-end industries.
For that to happen, Li said, the most important task now is to build supporting infrastructure.
Li noted that the establishment of such an infrastructure network could involve private capital.
"In sparsely populated areas such as western China, it might be difficult for private companies who participate in such projects to make a profit. But around the central areas such as Jiangxi, where the population is dense and opportunities are considerable, private capital could play a much more important role in such projects."
Shen suggested that as well as domestic private capital, international capital could also be invited to participate in the city cluster development process.
