On March 21, the first batch of 51 projects of “Yichang New District” approved by the government of Hubei Province started construction, which marked the beginning of transforming Yichang into a megalopolis, where the Three Gorges Water Control Project is located. It is estimated that the size of Yichang will double in the next five years, emerging as the youngest megacity in the Three Gorges Area.  

　　Yichang is in a very special region located in the joint part of the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the conjunction area of Chongqing, Hubei Province and Hunan Province as well as the sites of both Three Gorges Water Control Project and Gezhouba Water Control Project. As early as 1970s, Yichang seized the ten-year opportunity to develop Yichang from a small city to a medium-size one when Gezhouba Water Control Project was under construction; likewise the construction of Three Gorges Water Control Project served as the “the second major impetus” to transform Yichang from medium-sized city to a big city.

　　The “Post-Three-Gorges-Project” times come into being with the construction of this project drawing to a close. Faced with this situation, Yichang Government vigorously brings about leap-forward development with economic development model shifting from project-oriented to self-reliant, and speeds up the economic and social development and urban construction, which makes Yichang rank the second in terms of comprehensive economic strength among cities in Hubei Province, topping the other cities in the west and middle region of China and the areas along the Yangtze River.

　　Hubei Provincial Government required that Yichang Municipal Government should strenuously build Yichang into a modern megacity and achieve its third leap-forward development, which can play an important role in implementing the unifying and multi-level strategy in Hubei, and in boosting the rise of central region of China. According to the overall urban planning of Yichang approved by Hubei Government, Yichang will be built into a megalopolis with 2 million estimated population in an area of 200 square kilometers by 2020, and by 2030 with 3 million population in an area of 300 square kilometers.

　　With a total planning area of 220 square kilometers, Yichang Government will complete the investment of 200 billion Yuan in total into the city construction of “Yichang New District” in three years, which by then the urban framework of “200 square kilometers” will be erected; in five years, “Yichang New District” —— the polycentric city along the Yangtze River will come into shape. So far, a dozen central state-owned enterprises like China Three Gorges Corporation have showed their interest in further cooperation with Yichang Government and intent to invest 100 billion Yuan in five years for promoting government’s plan of construction of the megacity.

　　“To build ‘Yichang New District’ is not only the top priority but also an important fulcrum to achieve the third historic leap-forward development of Yichang,” says Yuan Weidong, the deputy major of Yichang Government. He explains that the aim of implementing the strategy of “Yichang New District” is to build Yichang into a national ecological green valley, an important fulcrum of the rise of central region of China, the core supporting point of “golden development” in Hubei, and the central impetus point of urban agglomeration’s integrative development among cities of Yichang, Jingzhou and Jingmen.

　　He also says that Yichang will achieve leap-forward development with its huge urban size which can hold tremendous population mobility, logistics, capital flow and information flow to produce powerful agglomeration effect and radiation effect, and present a new “mega-Yichang” image with distinctive landscape features, high modernization and rich cultural connotation.