Members of Beijing's top advisory body, the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), put forward the proposal on Friday.

Committee member Huang Hongxiang suggested at the fifth session of the Ninth Beijing CPPCC that the municipal government should shift the city's overall layout to ease transportation pressure and to better protect the ancient city.

Huang said two new subsidiary cities should be incorporated within Beijing to make a triangular-like layout.

The new cities - possibly to be located in the western part of Northeast Beijing's Shunyi District and the other at Tongzhou District in the east, will be hubs for industries and administration respectively.

The present downtown area will serve as a commercial, financial and tourist centre. The Beijing Capital International Airport will be the heart of the triangle formed by the three cities, Huang blueprinted in his motion.

"The triangular layout will separate the ancient city, the residential areas and the industrial areas, which will greatly ease traffic conditions and help protect relics," Huang said.

At present, Beijing has a five-ring city layout, with the old city as its core. Four ring roads surround the downtown area and 10 suburban areas form the outskirt.

The downtown area is an administrative, tourist and traffic centre, as well as a residential hot spot.

It is difficult for Beijing, a city with more than 3,000 years of history, to balance development with the protection of historical sites, Huang said.

The Beijing CPPCC received 1,291 motions last year, among which 247 - the highest percentage - relate to the issue of transportation.

So far, 1,286 motions have been dealt with, and questions raised in 743 motions have been totally or partially settled, according to the committee.

At the ongoing Beijing CPPCC session, motions to improve the service of the housing sector have also aroused a large number of concerns.

The property management market has long been plagued with problems, such as poor services and high charges, making individual buyers easy prey, said Zhou Jinfeng, a committee member and deputy director of Beijing Federation of Industry and Commerce.

Complaints about housing scams and poor property management service have increased steadily during the past few years, said officials from the Beijing Consumers' Association.

According to a Beijing government survey, 63 per cent of the city's 3,127 residential communities introduced property management service systems to residents by the end of August.

(China Daily January 28, 2002)