A riverside view of Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province [Photo provided to chinaopticsvalley.com]

On Dec 7, the National Development and Reform Commission approved the issuing of the Wuhan metropolitan area development plan, making Wuhan the seventh city to develop a metropolitan area after Nanjing, Fuzhou, Chengdu, Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan, Xi'an, and Chongqing.

The Wuhan metropolitan area includes four cities – Wuhan, Ezhou, Huanggang and Huangshi, all of which are in Hubei province.

According to the development plan, Wuhan and the three other cities will coordinate rural-urban development, boost mutual connectivity, share public services and take measures in risk prevention and control in order to better serve the Yangtze River Economic Belt development.

Wuhan will play a pivotal role in driving forward the high-quality development of the metropolitan area, said an official from the Wuhan municipal development and reform commission.