Xiong'an transport works get fillip

North China's Hebei province said it will accelerate the construction of high-quality transport systems connecting Xiong'an New Area with other places.

The larger goal is to develop an integrated transportation network for the new area, Hebei province's Department of Transport said in an implementation plan.

The plan was released last month to related governmental organs across the province, but made news only this week.

Xinhua News Agency reported part of the plan's content on Wednesday. According to the plan, an expressway network composed of four vertical and three horizontal expressways linking Xiong'an with other places is taking shape.

Among them, work on the second phase of the Jing-Xiong Expressway linking Beijing and Xiong'an will start this year. The expressway is expected to open in 2025.

Work on other expressways, including Jing-De (Beijing-Dezhou), a new line of Rong-Wu (Rongcheng-Wuhai) and Jing-Wu (Beijing-Wuhan), will start as soon as possible, the plan said.

Hebei will map out a corridor connecting Xiong'an with Huanghua Port in the province's Cangzhou city, which is located near the Bohai Bay, to create access for overseas places to the area.

Construction of a railway network with four vertical and four horizontal lines passing through Xiong'an is underway. The lines include an airport express linking Xiong'an with Daxing International Airport in Beijing's Daxing district, Xiong'an-Xinzhou high-speed railway and Shijiazhuang-Xiong'an intercity railway.

Inside the area, major highways and roads leading to villages will also be increased or upgraded, according to the plan.

Located about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing, Xiong'an covers three counties in Hebei: Anxin, Rongcheng and Xiongxian, which govern scores of villages.

The central authorities announced the plan to set up Xiong'an New Area in 2017, as a national project to deepen the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and take on functions transferred from Beijing that are non-essential, so as to decongest Beijing and help it to better perform its role as China's capital.

After more than six years, the development of Xiong'an has shifted to high-quality construction and high-level management, according to a recent meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

According to Zhang Zhixue, an official with the area's construction and transportation bureau, the transport networks in Xiong'an now have a fundamental shape.

"The improving networks can provide basic support for the area to undertake certain functions currently handled in Beijing," Zhang was quoted as saying in a local media report in Hebei.