Guangdong establishes five city clusters to bolster development

Province aims to sharpen its competitive edge as global economic powerhouse

Guangdong's provincial government has delineated five city clusters — Guangzhou, Shenzhen, the west coast of the Pearl River Estuary, Shanchaojie and Zhanmao — which will help the province achieve high-quality development.

Ai Xuefeng, director of the Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission, said urbanization is the inevitable path of modernization, and cultivating these clusters or "megacities" is an important means to promoting high-quality development in the province.

He added that the urbanization rate of the permanent population in Guangdong neared 75 percent last year, entering a mature and stable stage of urbanization.