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Mid-Yangtze River city cluster seeks further integration
Updated: Mar 3, 2016
en.changsha.gov.cn
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On the eve of the national "two sessions", mayors of Wuhan, Changsha, Hefei and Nanchang – four provincial capitals along the middle reaches of Yangtze River met again for the fourth year in a row.
They signed the Nanchang Action on March 1 in the Jiangxi capital to further cooperate in infrastructure, industry and public services.
Under the agreement, the provincial capitals in Central China will seek to build extensive water, land and air traffic channels in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, enhance the integration level of inter-regional public services and upgrade the coordinated development of city industrial clusters.
Mayors of Wuhan, Changsha, Hefei and Nanchang sign the Nanchang Action in Nanchang, March 1. [Photo / chinanews.com]
Observers say that since 2013, the four capitals have achieved substantial progress in cooperation in sectors such as transportation and tourism. And according to a Changsha official who took part in the draft of Nanchang Action, the Yangtze River middle reaches city cluster planning has been upgraded as a national strategy, hence, this year's cooperation is more tangible and will be carried out in specific projects.
But, as per an appraisal report released by Hubei Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, although the four provincial capitals have signed a large number of framework agreements, the concrete implementation needs to be strengthened. For example, the tourism departments launched the annual card system across the region but specific tourism planning is yet to be published.
Moreover, the cooperation participants need to be further expanded. Compared with the more-energized interaction among governments, societies and enterprises in Yangtze River Delta city group, the cooperation along the river's middle reaches is mostly led by the governments and falls more in conceptual level.
The report also suggests that it embarks on a long road to break the administrative barriers for in-depth co-work.
Related:
In April 2015, the State Council unveiled a plan to develop city clusters along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River a new economic growth engine and promote new urbanization. It mainly consists of urban clusters around Wuhan in Hubei province, the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan city group in Hunan province and clusters around Poyang Lake in Jiangxi province.
