China's National Development and Reform Commission said the nation is set to create 10 more regional city clusters, Southern Metropolis Daily reported on Friday.

China to create 10 more city clusters

The 10 city clusters will include a Harbin-Daqing-Qiqihar-Changchu-Jilin cluster, a Hohhot-Baotou-Erdos-Yulin cluster, a Taiyuan cluster, a Ningxia cluster along the Yellow River, a Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers cluster, a Beibu Gulf cluster, a Central Guizhou cluster, a Central Yunnan cluster, a Lanzhou-Xining cluster and a Urumqi-Changji-Shihezi cluster. A majority of them are located in central and western China.

China currently has 10 city clusters: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Central and South of Liaoning, Shangdong Peninsula, West Coast of Taiwan Straits, Central Plains, Middle Reaches of Yangtze River, Guanzhong and Chengdu-Chongqing.

China will try to turn clusters, including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta clusters, into world-class city clusters.

The present 10 city clusters, covering 10 percent of the country's area, with one third of the country's population, account for two thirds of the entire economic output and have turned into pillars of the Chinese economy.

Vice Director of the China Society Of Urban Economy Yang Chongguang told National Business Daily that city clusters are a result of economic development, yet also bring forth a lot of problems, such as the excessive concentration of population and traffic jams.

Quality must be stressed in city cluster development, said Yang. The government needs to consider the structure of cities and their environmental sustainability. Without a harmonious combination of a city's structure and the environmental factors, it is difficult to get a satisfactory result, Yang said.

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