ACROSS THE WATER: Construction of a bridge linking Hong Kong, Macao and Zhuhai in the Pearl River Delta, funded by the government, will start this year

The Pearl River Delta (PRD) has served as a pioneer of China's reform and opening up during the past three decades and has become one of the country's most important economic hubs.

Last year, the 30th anniversary of the country's reform and opening-up policy, the government drafted the outline of a plan for the reform and development of PRD to the year 2020 to create new advantages for this region. It released the details of the plan earlier this month.

At a press conference held by the Information Office of the State Council in Beijing on January 8, Du Ying, Vice Minister of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said that the region would continue to serve as "an experimental field" as it did for the country's 30-year-old reforms.

The PRD region includes nine cities in the southern part of Guangdong Province-Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Jiangmen, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Huizhou and Zhaoqing. By intensifying cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao, according to the plan, the PRD region will become the most dynamic and internationally competitive city cluster in the Asia-Pacific region by 2020.

According to Du, the GDP of the PRD region surpassed that of Singapore in 1998, Hong Kong in 2003 and Taiwan in 2007, while the combined GDP of Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macao is now the fourth highest in Asia, after Japan, South Korea and India.

Economic integration

According to the plan, the PRD region is expected to achieve economic integration by 2020, including setting up a unified comprehensive transportation system, the formation of a unified network for natural gas transport and a pipeline network for refined oil, the construction of a public information database and the unification of energy prices.

The plan also foresees closer economic ties in the region. By 2012, the integration of the regional economy and local infrastructure will have been initiated, and by 2020, regional economic integration and basic regional equality of public services will have been realized.

Beside the comprehensive development of the PRD region, including technological innovation, environmental protection and social welfare, the NDRC has mapped out plans for cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao. The region will undergo exciting and positive changes thanks to its proximity to Hong Kong, the plan said. It aims to develop a system of service industries to match Hong Kong as an international financial center and to turn the PRD region into an international center for shipping, logistics, trade, conferences and exhibitions, tourism and innovations. Thousands of new jobs will be created, and travel between Hong Kong and the delta region will be improved on a massive scale, according to the plan.