The State Council issued an approval on April 5 to governments and the Development and Reform Commissions of Jiangxi, Hubeie and Hunan provinces on a development plan for city clusters at the midstream of the Yangtze River.

The approval requests that the deployment made by CPC central Committee and the State Council — that the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt be driven by the golden channel — should be fully implemented. It also requests speeding up the implementation of the new type of urbanization strategy, developing central China, and innovation-driven development. Efforts should be made to explore a scientific, harmonious, transformed, cooperative and new pattern — to make midstream city clusters an important support for the Yangtze River Economic Belt, a new growth point for the national economy, and influential in the world.

The approval demands the three provinces strengthen leadership and cooperate closely. Regular consultation and work promotion mechanisms should be improved, and specific plans should be made. Important projects and policies in the development plan should be submitted for approval following procedures.

Related departments of the State Council should actively support policy implementation, project arrangement and system innovation. They should also guide and help solve practical problems encountered when carrying out the development plan. The development and reform commission should cooperate with other related departments to enhance the trace analysis and inspection. They should research situations, solve problems and summarize experience. They should also do the evaluation with local governments in the three provinces at the proper time, and report serious problems to the State Council in time.

The city clusters will mainly consist of urban clusters around Wuhan in Hubei province, the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan city group in Hunan province and clusters around Poyang Lake in Jiangxi province.

The clusters cover a total area of 317,000-square-kilometers and are a pillar of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.