Beijing holds the key to regional integration

The dream of integrated development among Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province will remain just that, experts said, unless existing barriers to the proposal can be hurdled.

The plan involving two major municipalities directly under the central government and a huge province is intended to not only ease congestion in the nation's capital but also to upgrade the industrial structure and treat the pollution in Hebei and develop the region into a new economic hub.

Beijing's gridlocked roadways and the smog shrouding 100 million people living on the 216,000 square kilometers that comprises all three areas have forced decision-makers to take a plan that first surfaced in 2011 and put it at the top of their priority list this year.