This year's Government Work Report said that "major progress was made in boosting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region". In the years since the central government put forward the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development plan, local authorities have taken a series of measures, including working on key issues such as top design, to help shift Beijing's noncapital functions to neighboring locations, integrating the region's transport network and better strengthening environmental protection.

The central government approved the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development plan outline in April 2015, and published the final plan in 2016. And on April 1, 2017, the central authorities announced the plan to develop Xiongan New Area in Hebei province as part of the larger Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei development plan.

Between 2014 and 2017, Beijing shifted or shut down many of its non-capital functions, including 594 special markets and 1,992 general manufacturing enterprises, with 3,860 of its industrial units being relocated to Hebei. As a result, Beijing's permanent resident population declined by 22,000 in 2017 and 165,000 in 2018.

Tianjin and Hebei have absorbed many of Beijing's non-capital functions by jointly building a series of platforms, and Xiongan New Area has become the center for many of those relocated functions. As such, Xiongan has become one of the "two wings" of Beijing, together with Tongzhou.

The transport connectivity in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has greatly improved with opening of the expressway from Laishui in Hebei to Beijing in 2014, and the extension of the Beijing-Tianjin and Tianjin-Baoding intercity high-speed railways and the Zhangjiakou-Tangshan railway in 2015. Along with these, Beijing's outer-ring road which opened in 2016, the Binhai-Baoding expressway which opened in 2017 and the Beijing-Qinhuangdao expressway that was thrown open to traffic last year have formed a "one-hour traffic circle" around Beijing, Tianjin and Baoding in Hebei. Besides, due to stricter environmental protection measures, the emission of sulfur dioxide in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has reduced by 61 percent from 2011 to 2017, and PM2.5 concentration in the five key cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Tangshan, Qinhuangdao and Baoding has drastically dropped. In fact, the average PM2.5 concentration in the region has fallen by about 40 percent from the 2013 level.

Also, the withdrawal of roaming charges for the use of cell phones within the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in 2015 has facilitated the movement of people, and the integrated customs reform that has reduced the average customs clearance time by 41 days has been helping boost the regional economy.

Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei have jointly implemented 24 collaborative standards in fields such as transportation, production safety, environmental protection and logistics. But despite making remarkable progress on multiple fronts, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region still faces many challenges which the authorities need to urgently solve.

First, they have to ensure the orderly shifting of Beijing's remaining non-capital functions, and take measures to reduce the negative impact that will have on the local residents.

Second, Xiongan New Area should be developed into an eco-friendly and habitable place, a leading innovation-driven development zone, a coordinated development demonstration area and a pilot area for further opening-up.

Third, the authorities need to expedite the construction in Beijing's subcenter, including for the second stage of sub-center administrative office area and sub-center comprehensive transport junction, and expand the transport network, public services and industries to the three nearby counties of Sanhe, Dachang and Xianghe in Hebei to foster more coordinated development.

Fourth, there is a need to strengthen environmental protection in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region to keep the air clean and prevent water pollution.

And fifth, the authorities should optimize the education and medical resources in the region, in order to promote and share basic public services, in order to facilitate the orderly progress of the region's economy.

The authors are researchers in economics at Capital University of Economics and Business and Hebei University of Economics and Business. The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.