Passengers wait to board a train of subway Line One at a station in Beijing, Dec 29, 2014. Beijing has raised subway fares from Dec 28, 2014, but it seems to make little difference to the congestion on the public transport system. The city's subway system carries approximately 10 million passengers daily on workdays. (Photo/CFP)
(ECNS) -- China's capital city Beijing will cap its population at 23 million by the year 2020, a move to cure "urban ills," the local government said on Wednesday.
The city approved proposals for the development plan over the next five years during a meeting that concluded on Wednesday. The statement "strictly controlling the population size" was included for the first time, highlighting a new direction of development.
Guo Jinlong, Beijing's Party Chief, said that oversized population remains the most prominent problem, and that excessively rapid growth is an important cause of the city's "urban ills."
The ceiling of 23 million was made based on the shortage of water resources and a looming limit of carrying capacity, he added.
Beijing has also decided to relocate its municipal administrative organs from downtown to east suburban Tongzhou district in 2017, to ease the pressure of overcrowding on public services.
The population of Beijing reached 21.516 million by the end of 2014, with an annual growth rate of 1.7 percent, the slowest in the past decade.
