Chinese vice premier warns against housing speculation in Beijing suburbs

Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli (2nd L), also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, speaks during a meeting on the coordinated development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in Beijing, capital of China, July 24, 2015. (Xinhua/Li Tao)

BEIJING, July 24 -- Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli on Friday urged authorities to prevent housing speculation around the Chinese capital as the government pursues integrated development of Beijing and its neighboring regions.

Officials must ward off blind real estate development and speculation on housing prices in areas surrounding Beijing, Zhang said during a meeting on promoting an interprovincial program for coordinated development between Beijing and the nearby Tianjin Municipality and Hebei Province.

A top priority of the program is moving out some of Beijing's non-capital functions, which the government hopes will help address the megacity's "urban diseases" such as traffic congestion and air pollution.

Beijing announced earlier this month it will move some of its city administration out of the city center to the eastern suburbs. The move has long been anticipated and has driven up housing prices in Tongzhou District, where a new municipal subsidiary administrative center will be built.

During the meeting, Zhang urged land supply be forcefully controlled and strict boundaries should be set in urban development. He also told authorities to follow through on the government's Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integrated development plan and work out roadmaps and timetables for specific tasks.

Major projects should be pushed forward to achieve breakthroughs in three priority areas including traffic integration, environmental protection and industrial upgrading, he said.