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Title: China to create largest mega city in the world with 42 million people
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URL Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor ... ld-with-42-million-people.html
Published: Jan 26, 2011
Author: Malcolm Moore in Shanghai and Peter Fost
Post Date: 2011-01-26 17:48:07 by Mad Dog
Keywords: anybody, ask the, people
Views: 3546
Comments: 9
City planners in south China have laid out an ambitious plan to merge together the nine cities that lie around the Pearl River Delta. The "Turn The Pearl River Delta Into One" scheme will create a 16,000 sq mile urban area that is 26 times larger geographically than Greater London, or twice the size of Wales. The new mega-city will cover a large part of China's manufacturing heartland, stretching from Guangzhou to Shenzhen and including Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Jiangmen, Huizhou and Zhaoqing. Together, they account for nearly a tenth of the Chinese economy. Over the next six years, around 150 major infrastructure projects will mesh the transport, energy, water and telecommunications networks of the nine cities together, at a cost of some 2 trillion yuan (£190 billion). An express rail line will also connect the hub with nearby Hong Kong. "The idea is that when the cities are integrated, the residents can travel around freely and use the health care and other facilities in the different areas," said Ma Xiangming, the chief planner at the Guangdong Rural and Urban Planning Institute and a senior consultant on the project. Related Articles China's mega city: the country's existing mega cities 24 Jan 2011 China's mega city: the world's largest cities 24 Jan 2011 However, he said no name had been chosen for the area. "It will not be like Greater London or Greater Tokyo because there is no one city at the heart of this megalopolis," he said. "We cannot just name it after one of the existing cities." "It will help spread industry and jobs more evenly across the region and public services will also be distributed more fairly," he added. Mr Ma said that residents would be able to use universal rail cards and buy annual tickets to allow them to commute around the mega-city. Twenty-nine rail lines, totalling 3,100 miles, will be added, cutting rail journeys around the urban area to a maximum of one hour between different city centres. According to planners, phone bills could also fall by 85 per cent and hospitals and schools will be improved. "Residents will be able to choose where to get their services and will use the internet to find out which hospital, for example, is less busy," said Mr Ma. Pollution, a key problem in the Pearl River Delta because of its industrialisation, will also be addressed with a united policy, and the price of petrol and electricity could also be unified. The southern conglomeration is intended to wrestle back a competitive advantage from the growing urban areas around Beijing and Shanghai. By the end of the decade, China plans to move ever greater numbers into its cities, creating some city zones with 50 million to 100 million people and "small" city clusters of 10 million to 25 million. In the north, the area around Beijing and Tianjin, two of China's most important cities, is being ringed with a network of high-speed railways that will create a super-urban area known as the Bohai Economic Rim. Its population could be as high as 260 million. The process of merging the Bohai region has already begun with the connection of Beijing to Tianjing by a high speed railway that completes the 75 mile journey in less than half an hour, providing an axis around which to create a network of feeder cities. As the process gathers pace, total investment in urban infrastructure over the next five years is expected to hit £685 billion, according to an estimate by the British Chamber of Commerce, with an additional £300 billion spend on high speed rail and £70 billion on urban transport.
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#3. To: Mad Dog (#0)
Here's China's most famous ghost city: Ordos Ordos Museum Street View Image: Panoramio Image: Google Maps Image: Panoramio Image: Google Maps Image: Google Maps
The joys of central planning. At least they wasted money with some flair, unlike the old grey, square Soviet-era buildings!
#9. To: jwpegler (#8)
True 'nuff. You what's REALLY wierd? On the outskirts of Bucharest, they built the same Soviet-style buildings... but they're ten times more depressing to look at... I don't know why. The cool thing about them is that, as a friend of mine in Moscow said, she ordered a new kitchen from the Czech Republic... They sent the kit, ready-to- install, right to her door. They had it installed, sealed and done in two days... Basically, since everything's standardized to a few floorplans, they can make her a kit that's essentially an erector set! Blew me away when I first saw it... LOL.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestCity planners in south China have laid out an ambitious plan to merge together the nine cities that lie around the Pearl River Delta.
YAY!!!!!
MORE GHOST CITIES!!!!
#8. To: Capitalist Eric (#3)
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