China to invest £190bn in megacity

China is to invest £190bn in merging nine cities to create a ’megacity’ twice the size of Wales.

It plans 150 infrastructure projects over the next six years to combine the transport, electricity, communications and water systems of the cities, clustered around the Pearl River Delta in the south east of the country, next to Hong Kong, reports the Daily Telegraph.

The largest of the cities, Guangzhou, already has a population of 11.7m.

“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.

Planners say twenty-nine rail lines, 3,100 miles in total, will be added, cutting rail journeys, phone bills could also fall by 85%, and hospitals and schools will be improved.