How Cairo's vision for a sister city can inspire Beijing

Egypt, determined to rise from the aftermath of 2010's "Arab Spring", has surprised the world by announcing plans for another capital, along the corridor of Cairo to the Suez Canal, as a way of reviving people's aspirations and pride.

This initiative, which focuses on sustainability, has already won the support of the oil-rich Arab world, with Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates pledging to provide the majority of the $15-$20 billion investment.

It is a bold initiative that could cushion Cairo's notorious population expansion and traffic congestion pressures.

Some may think that Egypt's bold plan offers opportunities for China, which has been engaged in all-out efforts to promote Silk Road initiatives in Asia, Europe and Africa. Cairo's plan fits into China's global strategy by speeding up infrastructure construction and facilitating international trade and investment.

However, my first reaction is that Egypt's boldness has offered timely food for thought for China's top decisionmakers and policy planners when it comes to this country's hallmark strategy of integrating the development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province since Xi Jinping became the country's top leader. China, amid challenging pollution and population headaches, has already sped up the pace of such integrative development, though an overarching strategy is still in the pipeline.

Without a similar ambition - to build another capital - the focus of integrative development of these three administrative regions has been on rooting out pollution and traffic woes. Compared with the blueprint of Cairo, the discussions so far about Beijing's expansion have not been ambitious, bold or innovative enough.

Cairo is home to 20 million people, roughly the same as Beijing, or nearly double the population size of advanced European countries, such as Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece and Denmark.

The planned new capital between Cairo and the Suez Canal will house five million people and provide 10 million jobs, according to media reports. The project, a world capital with a sustainable ethos would have 10,000 kilometers of roads, 200 km of rail, more than 2,000 schools and 600 hospitals.

The figures relay boldness and ambition, especially when compared to Beijing's redevelopment.

For years, Beijing has sprawled from downtown to the outskirts by building ring roads, encompassing some towns of Tianjin and Hebei province. However, every morning, people flood into the center to work. At night they drive or take public transport to sleepy residential communities or small-scale cities in Hebei province.

And for decades, Beijing has sprawled that way and has never had the ambition or vision to build a sister capital, though there have been some discussions.

Now, it is time to consider the feasibility of reducing Beijing's traffic pressures by thinking about building satellite cities around the Chinese capital.

At the very least, Beijing should form university campus towns by borrowing ideas from Cambridge or Oxford. What I mean is that Beijing should consider moving at least five top universities outside Beijing and allocate them in five fledgling towns around the capital, or even in Hebei province. For example, such towns can be renamed if Peking University is built there. With more universities Beijing can build the town into a campus city.

High-tech parks, industrial zones and hatching zones will be built within ten years. With fast rail and highways links between Beijing and other big cities, such a plan is feasible.

Of course, Beijing should consider relocating the municipal organization or ministerial-level agencies to form a new administrative city in the outskirts of downtown Beijing. Affordable houses, kindergartens, schools and other basic necessities such as supermarkets and hospitals should be constructed as well as these official buildings.

Cairo has offered a new path of sustainable development in inspiring future generations. In Beijing's new development schemes, this concept should be implemented thoroughly. Only by doing so can China's capital region be transformed in an environment-friendly and innovative manner.

That way, this capital rebuilding process could help leave new legacies for generations to come.

The author is China Daily chief correspondent in Brussels. Contact the writer at [email protected]