New cities touted to ease overcrowding, congestion

Beijing is planning to build a number of "new cities" in suburban districts in the hope of drawing people out of the overcrowded core and easing the capital's traffic gridlock, according to officials at the annual legislative meeting on Wednesday.

"We will quicken the pace of easing the pressure on the downtown by constructing the new cities during the next five years," Wang Fei, vice-director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning, said during a press conference during the ongoing fourth session of the 13th Beijing Municipal People's Congress.

According to the municipal government's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), one of its main tasks will be to "curb the overly fast and disordered increase" in Beijing's population, and especially to ease pressure on the downtown.