Liu Jiang, vice minister in charge of the State Development and Reform Commission, said Wednesday that China has launched regional development masterplans for the Yangtze River Delta and the metropolitan region combining Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province.

Liu said that the Yangtze River Delta and the region encompassing Beijing are among China's most developed economic areas and have great potential for scientific and technological development.

However, in the process of economic and social development, both regions are facing problems such as repetitive construction, huge biological environment pressure and the lack of unified planning for regional infrastructure.

Those problems can only be tackled with unified planning under the guidance of scientific development principles, he said.

Major tasks of this regional masterplans are to clarify the overall positioning of the regions concerned in future development, provide a blueprint for priority development areas, and focus on problems which are difficult for one city or one province to solve, and the creation of sound investment environment and environment protection, according to Liu.

He said relevant policies to promote concerted development of the two regions are being studied.

(Xinhua News Agency November 11, 2004)