President says 'harmonious' capital must tend to people's pressing needs

Beijing should improve city planning and construction to build a "harmonious, world-class capital city" and better meet the demands of its residents, said President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Friday.

The city should take comprehensive measures to tackle problems that people care about most, such as air pollution, traffic jams, surging housing prices and too large a population, he said at a meeting after a two-day inspection.

Beijing should improve people's livelihoods and provide better public services for the people, he said while presiding over a high-profile meeting in the Great Hall of the People to discuss how to improve Beijing's city management and preparation work for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

"Whether its city planning and construction are good should be measured by how satisfied people are," he was quoted by China Central Television as saying.

During the two-day inspection tour, Xi visited the construction site of Beijing's new airport in the southern suburban district of Daxing and major stadiums that are to host Winter Olympics events.

He also visited Tongzhou district, the administrative sub-center of Beijing.

At the airport construction site, Xi urged workers and managers to adopt the strictest standards to ensure building quality.

Xi also stressed city planning and urged officials to study and devise effective policies to ensure Beijing's sustainable development.

Beijing should stick to improving its core functions as the capital and move its non-capital functions out of the city to ease its population and environmental pressures, he said at the meeting.

On Thursday, Xi listened to a report by municipal departments on the traffic integration of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province.

The government put forward a national strategy in 2014 to promote coordinated development of the three regional economies so that the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will grow into a major growth engine for the national economy.

Zhang Liqun, an economist of the State Council's Development Research Center, said, "The government now emphasizes development of city clusters, and megacities must help neighboring regions develop.

"In the next stage, integration of traffic and water and power supply systems will pick up speed."