Officials and experts say Guangdong is facing obstacles to further prosperity and must consolidate its status as one of China's economic engines.

A special advisory group organized by the Ministry of Construction and Guangdong provincial government has been invited to guide the planning of cities in the PRD, which includes Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Jiangmen, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Huizhou and Zhaoqing.

"It is an eminent trend for cities to integrate and merge for further prosperity in the PRD," said Chen Guanghan, director of the PRD Area Research Institute with Guangzhou-based Zhongshan University. "People should no longer be restricted to a designated administrative district."

Chen said it was important for regional economies to integrate and reduce their operation costs in times of economic globalization, which required proper divisions of labor among cities.

Cities in China usually had a disproportionate number of governmental institutions compared with their size.

Analysts say the excessive number of institutions not only consumed a lot of social resources, but overburdened taxpayers in the delta.

Guangdong, the PRD in particular, has developed into China's economic powerhouse since the central government chose the province to pilot its reform and opening-up drive more than 20 years ago.

However, the delta's uniqueness as China's pioneer has been weakened by other emerging regions like Shanghai in recent years as the country deepens its reform and opens much wider to the world.

Unfazed by the challenges, Guangdong has decided to focus its new round of urban expansion on city integration in the delta area, which now lacks coordination in urban planning.

The gross domestic product (GDP) in the PRD was 836.4 billion yuan (US$101 billion) in 2002, accounting for eight percent of the national total. The population in the delta reached50 million, representing 54 percent of Guangdong's total population.

"Only a greater Pearl River Delta metropolis rim that includes Hong Kong and Macao will make the region stand as the world's most dynamic and fastest growing area," said professor Chen Guanghan.

Chen noted that a systematic and regular mechanism for communication and exchanges between Hong Kong and delta cities would create mutually beneficial opportunities for both sides.

Local officials have also expressed their desire for a much more integrated Pearl River Delta.

"The PRD should be the champion of a team race," said Li Guikang, secretary of Dongguan city committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC). "I hope the integration of infrastructure and resources of cities will raise the PRD's competitiveness and its status in the international arena."

Li's colleague Lin Shusen, secretary of Guangzhou city committee of the CPC, agreed.

"The expansion of city size has enabled us to design our city planning in a much larger space and build a modern regional center," Li said.

With the downtown area extending to two former counties under its jurisdiction, Guangzhou has surpassed Shanghai in size with an area of 7,400 sq. km and its population has reached 10 million.

(People's Daily April 12, 2003)