Tianjin has issued a comprehensive coordinated development plan for the three layers, namely the Binhai New Area, the urban area and surrounding districts and counties, to maintain comprehensive, balanced and sustainable social and economical development and configure new advantages for development. Through joint efforts of the whole city, Tianjin is moving towards a new structure featuring unique developments of these three layers, positive interaction, multi-dimensional development and multi-polar support.

For quite some years, while the development in the Binhai New Area has remained fast, the potential of Tianjin’s urban area and surrounding districts and counties are far from being fully explored. Under the negative influence of the current administration system, the development of the Binhai New Area and urban area tend to be homogenized. During the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2001-2005), GDP and fiscal revenue of the central districts grew by 182 percent and 279 percent respectively; while those of the Binhai New Area by 243 percent and 694 percent.

Taking the development of the whole city into consideration, it is not realistic to solely depend on the Binhai New Area for Tianjin’s overall growth. Therefore, it is critical to maintain coordination of the industrial layout between urban areas and the Binhai New Area. A development strategy was proposed at the Tianjin’s Ninth Party Congress held in May 2007, declaring that the “Binhai New Area is to function as the growth engine, with major urban areas to develop rapidly and other districts and counties following suit”.

The Binhai New Area has proposed to strengthen cooperation with urban areas and the surrounding districts and counties in several aspects to promote the coordinated development of the three layers. Consequently the balanced development of the entire city could be possible. Firstly, the Binhai New Area will exert industrial advantages and conduct an overall planning for industrial layout and development policy, encouraging the industrial chain extending from Binhai to the surrounding districts and counties and forming an effective industrial structure of mutual support. Secondly, the Binhai New Area will exert policy advantages to further apply the policies adopted by Binhai to the whole city so as to drive the development of other areas. Thirdly, the New Area will exert the advantage of opening-up to push forward the linkage between the urban area and Binhai in sharing the science & education resources and attracting investment, enabling Tianjin to strengthen its overall competitiveness.

Tianjin now enjoys a comprehensive, well-coordinated and connected development of three layers and the Binhai New Area is playing its due part as the growth engine.

In 2008, the GDP of the Binhai New Area reached 310.224 billion yuan, up 23.1 percent year-on-year and with a higher growth margin of 2.6 percentage points than last year’s. The Binhai New Area’s GDP growth rate of 2008 is 6.6 percent higher than the increase rate of the whole city’s GDP. In the first half of 2009, the GDP of the Binhai New Area has achieved 157.683 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 23 percent.

Tianjin urban area strives to develop modern service and metropolitan industry, improving the city’s due functions in a comprehensive way. Since the city’s Ninth Congress of Party Representatives, strategies aiming to lifting the residents’ living standard and improving the city development have been put forward. Three courses of twenty city-improving projects have significantly benefited urban residents’ living and working conditions, and have improved the city’s landscape dramatically. Regarding the introduction of investments, foreign investment in place in Tianjin’s urban districts has grown by 36 percent in the first half of 2009 and the utilization of domestic capital in place is 19.515 billion yuan, growing by 24.6 percent year-on-year.

The accelerating development of districts and counties of Tianjin leads to the enhancement of their economic strength. In 2008, industrial production in districts and counties reached 343.362 billion yuan, up 30.2 percent, with an increase rate 5.6 percent higher than the average industrial growth rate for the whole city. In the first half of 2009, industrial production in districts and counties grew by 17.1 percent and the district and county revenue increased by 31.2 percent. Agricultural infrastructure construction finished a total of 60,000 mu of land, which equals to the total construction achievement in the last decade. Pilot projects, in which farmers can switch their residential land for houses, went well, with accumulative investment over 12 billion yuan.