Review of integration plan's environmental impact vital

Will the integrated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province serve as a development model that balances environmental protection and economic growth? The program that the Ministry of Environmental Protection launched on Tuesday to assess the integration plan's impact on the environment is meant to do as much as possible to ensure this goal becomes a reality.

The integrated development of the two metropolises and neighboring Hebei province in North China is the brainchild of the top leadership and intended to blaze a new trail out of the rut of growth that has come at a cost to the environment. It is also meant to ease the environmentally damaging side effects of Beijing and Tianjin's rapid urban growth in the past decades.

In this strategic plan, many of the urban functions of Beijing and Tianjin will be transferred to Hebei to bolster its growth, which will hopefully relieve both cities of the increasingly heavy burden of their growing populations and environmental degradation.