China stresses ‘steady’ planning for new economic zone
BEIJING: Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli has stressed the need for “steady” planning in an ambitious new economic zone the government has touted as a driver of growth in northern China, state news agency Xinhua said on Sunday.
The zone, in Hebei province’s Xiongan around 100 km (60 miles) southwest of Beijing, will house some of Beijing’s relocated “non-capital functions”. It is currently 100 sq km (39 sq miles) in area but will eventually be expanded to 2,000 sq km. News last month of the scheme to set up the zone that would be modelled on the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone that helped kickstart China’s economic reforms in 1980 sent land prices soaring and prompted government warnings against speculation.
Visiting the Xiongan New Area on Saturday, Zhang said the government should “plan well before taking action and make steady efforts in planning construction”, Xinhua reported. Zhang “stressed tight control of land, property development
Beijing, home to 22 million people, is trying to curb population growth and relocate industries and other “noncapital functions” to Hebei in the coming years
and neighbouring regions as well as protecting historical and cultural heritage and the ecological environment”, the report added.
Zhang called for “world vision, international standards, Chinese characteristics and high goals” in planning and building new area, Xinhua said. Green development will be given priority when selecting industries to move into the new area, with the high-tech and service sectors encouraged, Zhang said.
China is currently implementing a plan aimed at inte- grating the economies of Hebei, Beijing and Tianjin, a heavily polluted region known as Jingjin-ji. The development of separate “fortress economies” in the region was blamed for widening income disparities and causing a “race to the bottom” when it came to environmental law enforcement.beijing, home to 22 million people, is trying to curb population growth and relocate industries and other “non-capital functions” to Hebei in the coming years as part of its efforts to curb pollution and congestion. NEW YORK: A French-speaking woman flew more than 4,800-km in the wrong direction in the US after the United Airlines failed to notify her of her flight’s last- minute gate change, according to media reports.
Lucie Bahetoukilae, who does not speak English, was supposed to go to Paris from Newark on April 24 but was horrified when she landed in San Francisco.
Three thousand miles (4,828 km) later, Bahetoukilae disembarked at San Francisco International Airport, where she waited an additional 11 hours before boarding a flight back to Paris. In total, she claims to have been travelling for 28 hours, WABC TV reported.
The airline called the incident, which it just settled in a confidential lawsuit, “a horrible failure,” it said.
“Newark to Charles de Gaulle,” Bahetoukilae’s boarding pass read. She went to the gate stamped on it and said a United representative scanned it. So she boarded the plane and headed for her seat, 22C.
“When she went to sit someone was sitting there already,” her niece Diane Miantsoko said. She said the flight attendant looked at her boarding pass and instead of questioning it, sat her somewhere else.
Bahetoukilae never realised United Airlines made a lastminute gate change. She said United never made the gate announcement in French or notified her by email, the report said.
“If they would have made the announcement in French, she would she have moved gates,” Miantsoko said.
More than the inconvenience, the family’s main concern is the apparent security lapse by United. “They didn’t pay attention. My aunt could have been anyone. She could have been a terrorist and killed people on that flight and they didn’t know they didn’t catch it,” her niece said.
“This is not about money, this is about United getting serious with their employees,” Miantsoko said.
United Airlines later apologised and also paid for accommodations it had not offered Bahetoukilae, when she was waiting for her return flight in San Francisco.
An airline representative said United is working with their team in Newark to prevent this from happening again.