​Plan for Shandong Peninsula urban clusters unveiled

The leading group office for urbanization of Shandong province recently released a plan for the development of the Shandong Peninsula urban clusters over the next few years.

The plan, titled "Major Tasks for the Development of New-type Urbanization in Shandong province", specifies the efforts that will be undertaken to facilitate a new type of urbanization in the peninsula, such as speeding up administrative procedures on granting permanent urban residency to people who move from rural to urban areas, and ramping up and improving upon construction efforts for the urban development of the region.

According to the plan, Shandong province will integrate the development of urban spatial structures, industries, transportation, ecological environment, infrastructure facilities and public services. 

The plan will be facilitated in the Jinan and Qingdao metropolitan areas, and the four urban regions of Yantai-Weihai, Dongying-Binzhou, Linyi-Rizhao, and Jining-Zaozhuang-Heze. 

The province will also intensify the leading roles of Jinan, Qingdao and Yantai in the process by replacing old growth drivers with new ones, and promoting integration and networking among the cities.

In the field of infrastructure construction, the province will advance the renovation of urban villages, shanty towns and old residential areas, continue to improve the standards for infrastructure construction through introducing the concept of the "sponge city", and encourage public transport use.

Shandong province will enhance its capability to provide urban public services. It will increase the supply for preschool education resources in towns, improve urban elderly care facilities and facilitate the development of a home-based aged care services system, as well as intensify its efforts to develop medical partnerships.

The plan also points out that the province will attempt to boost the rural economy by striving to develop economies of scale in rural tourism, encourage urban residents to travel to rural areas, build regional elderly care service centers in rural areas and speed up the construction of comprehensive cultural service centers at the grassroots.