Guizhou province said in a report published on Feb 17 that its 13th Five-Year Plan calls for building the capital, Guiyang, into a large metropolis with the capacity for more than 5-million people by improving its urban functions and expanding outwards to the Gui'an New Area and the city of Qingzheng, with more highways to form an economic circle.
Guiyang's State-approved urban plan for the 2011-20 period has the city proper with 3.2-million by 2020, and the Guiyang - Gui'an New Area, with the cities of Zunyi, Anshun, Bijie, Kaili and Duyun holding more than 10 million, for an urbanization rate of 60 percent by 2020.
The urban area had 3.3 million people In 2014, so the city has six years to attract over a million new settlers and, according to Xiao Jincheng, of China's National Development and Reform Commission's Spatial Planning and Regional Economy Institute, the Guiyang-Gui'an area will be the province's main residential area, because much of the province is covered by mountains.
Xiao went on to say, "The idea of raising Guiyang's status makes senses because of the difficulties for other areas to develop rapidly," than suggested a "node" development model. Guiyang had a GDP of 289.1 billion yuan ($ 44.36 billion) in 2015, or 12.5 percent higher than for the previous year, putting it at the top of 34 capital cities nationwide.
Still, Guiyang is smaller in its economic aggregate than the big cities such as Wuhan and Chengdu, so, the vice-director of Guizhou University of Finance and Economics' West China Modernization Research Center, Zhang Jiefei, says he believes the key issue here is whether the city can grow industrially and in population simultaneously.
Wang Hui, of the Capital University of Economics, seems to hold similar views as the Regional Economy Institute's Xiao and says, "Guizhou should place more importance on the Gui'an New Area," citing the higher cost of high-speed railway connections for cities in a mountainous area as a reason and noting that the Guiyang-Gui'an area over the next five years will become the province's growth area, helping develop the Qianzhong economic circle.
