China begins mammoth task of moving Beijing local govt offices out of capital

In a major step to ease congestion and recurring pollution in Beijing, China has begun the herculean task of moving the city government offices about 100 km away from the capital.

China, earlier this year, announced the establishment of a special economic area in a province neighbouring Beijing. The Xiong'an New Area in Hebei province is part of the measures to advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Beijing, which has over 21.7 million population, aims to cap the number at 23 million by 2020, according to earlier media reports.

On Friday, parts of the Beijing municipal government offices moved from the downtown centre to suburban Tongzhou district, and other departments will gradually start moving as well, state-run China Daily reported.

In the morning, multiple government departments, including the Beijing poverty relief office and the Beijing Youth League committee, have started working in new office buildings in Tongzhou.

According to the plan, all departments of Beijing government will move to Tongzhou, an attempt to ease traffic and population density in the capital's central area, the report said.

The New Area, about 100-km southwest of downtown Beijing, will span three counties that sit at the centre of the triangular area formed by Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei's provincial capital, Shijiazhuang, Xinhua news agency reported.

The move will help phase out functions from Beijing that are not related to the capital, explore a new model of optimised development in densely-populated areas and restructure the urban layout in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, according to the plan.

The New Area will cover around 100 sq km initially and will be expanded to 200 sq km in the midterm and about 2,000 sq km in the long-term.