China to create world’s largest mega city with 42 million

China to create world’s largest mega city with 42 million

A city twice the size of Wales and 26 times the size of London. In China it's not just possible, it's being planned

Construction in Shenzhen is underway for the creation of China's 42 million people mega city that will challenge Shanghai and Beijing as China's economic engine.

It would be a city bigger than Wales, but it’s perfectly in line with China’s building mantra: go big or go home.

Planners are proposing to merge nine cities around the Pearl River Delta in southern China, from Guangzhou to Shenzhen, just north of Hong Kong, reports The Telegraph.

Called the "Turn The Pearl River Delta Into One" plan, the proposal will create a 16,000 square mile area “that is 26 times larger geographically than Greater London, or twice the size of Wales,” according to the paper.

China is creating its first mega city, which will challenge the dominance of China’s current main urban areas of Beijing/Tianjin and Shanghai.

The goal of the new city will be to integrate China’s manufacturing base, which will include the cities of Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Jiangmen, Huizhou and Zhaoqing.

Together, according to the Telegraph, they account for nearly a tenth of the Chinese economy.

The new zone will be created over the next six years, and will connect the current cities’ transport, energy, water and telecommunications networks.

The area will also have an express rail line to Hong Kong.

If you’re having a difficult time imagining this, think of it as China’s version of Tokyo.

"The idea is that when the cities are integrated, the residents can travel around freely and use the health care and other facilities in the different areas," said Ma Xiangming, the chief planner at the Guangdong Rural and Urban Planning Institute and a senior consultant on the project.

This is not the only massive urbanization plan going on in the country. By 2025 China will have 221 mega cities with more than 1 million residents, and eight cities each with a population of more than 10 million.