‍China’s central government is throwing its full support behind the Xiongan New Area, with authorities telling state-owned firms to draw up plans to set up offices in the planned metropolis south of the capital.

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said state-owned firms have been encouraged to take part in Xiongan’s development.

Since April 4, at least 40 centrally administered SOEs have announced they would take part in the development of the Xiong'an New Area. Contributions by various firms should be made in the areas of energy, security, infrastructure, power, telecoms, mass transport, and environmental protection, among others.

“We will actively guide the industrial structure optimization and transformation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs),” the regulator said.

China’s four biggest state-run commercial banks, namely Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), China Construction Bank (CCB) and Bank of China (BOC), have announced plans to put up branches in Xiongan, which is located in north China’s Hebei province.

The four lenders have pledged to support infrastructure development in Xiongan.

CCB, the first of the four to announce plans for Xiongan, said it will establish a group to focus on the new area.

China National Offshore Oil Corp. said it plans to link Xiongan to its liquefied natural gas (LNG) production base in Inner Mongolia using a pipeline, promising a steady supply of clean energy to the region.

Oil giant Sinopec also said the company will increase investment into geothermal energy in the region. China National Petroleum Corp. plans to focus on its natural gas business for Xiongan.

Telecom giants China Unicom, China Mobile and China Telecom said they will offer advanced communication services to the area, supported by innovative models such as cloud computing, big data and e-commerce.

China Mobile and China Telecom said they will make sure Xiongan is covered by a 5G network.

Plans for the Xiongan New Area were announced on April 1. The new metropolis will initially be made up of the Xiongxian, Rongcheng, and Anxin counties in Hebei Province. Xiongan will be expanded to 2,000 square kilometers to support a population of 2.5 million people.

Chinese leaders hope the new area will help address the severe "urban ills" of traffic congestion and air pollution in Beijing by absorbing some of the capital's population growth. So-called non-capital functions will also be moved from Beijing to Xiongan.

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