CRI听力:China Plans Subsidiary Administrative Center in Tongzhou

Li Shixiang, executive vice mayor of Beijing, says the "subsidiary administrative center" will be based in Tongzhou, a suburban district in the city's southeast.

The district is adjacent to the commercial-heavy urban district of Chaoyang and has advantages in infrastructure and transportation among the city's suburbs.

The guideline says authorities are aiming to achieve "remarkable progress" on the construction of the subsidiary administrative center by 2017.

The Chinese capital has sought to address severe problems such as traffic congestion and air pollution, by curbing its population growth and moving some facilities to nearby regions.

"In particular, the spatial structure of the six urban districts will be changed. For example, now our citizens need to buy vegetables, see a doctor in their community, park their vehicles, but there's no room for it. We must have space for what the citizens need most to increase their happiness index."

Li Shixiang also says the construction is not just as easy as constructing several buildings and moving administrative functions there.

"It is about how to develop and what should be developed. It's about spatial functions and overall functions. All of them need rigorous planning and full arguments. I believe next we will create a good environment and take precautions against the morbid state in city administration. In this way, we can establish a subsidiary administrative center of Beijing with scientific planning and orderly management."

The announcement says moving out some of Beijing's non-capital functions will be a top priority in the strategy of integrating Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei.

The capital has also accelerated the pace of industrial restructuring and has taken a more stringent attitude on floating population registration.

Over the past year, a number of wholesale markets in the city's central areas were shut down or relocated.

The municipal government promises to limit its population to 23 million.

Official data shows Beijing's total population stood at 21.5 million last year.

For CRI, I'm Wang Wei.