Good news was released from the National People’s Congress(NPC) and National People’s Political Consultative Congress(NPPCC) on 7th that it was put forward in the draft Outline of China’s 13th Five-Year Plan to construct Three Gorges Ecological Economic Cooperative Zone; and it is planned to integrate various means of transportation depending on the Yangtze River, a golden water way and to renovate the channel from Yichang to Anqing, to advance the construction of the new channel of Three Georges and to complete the Three Georges comprehensive transportation system.

To implement the spirit of the speech made by Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on enhancing the ecological and environmental protection of the Yangtze River economic belt, the city government has actively planned to construct the Three Georges Ecological and Economic Cooperative Zone to advance the sub-regional cooperation in this area, to break the regional development bottlenecks and to push forward the overall and interactive development of both the eastern and western parts of the economic belt so as to quicken the formation of a new supporting point for Chinese economy.

According to Yichang Development and Reform Commission that Three Georges Ecological and Economic Cooperative Zone, with Three Gorges as the axis, covers an area containing Hubei Province, Hunan Province and Chongqing, which are affected by Three Georges Project, and it is also a contiguous poor area with a fragile ecological environment.

The building of such a zone can generate great political, economic, ecological and social benefits and be conducive to the construction of its regional ecological civilization and urbanization of a new type, and the development of green industry as well as the coordination in lifting people out of poverty by targeted measures. And it can lead to the exploration of a new way to conduct cross-regional ecological protection, ecological coordinated inter-regional prevention，ecological compensation and ecological welfare for the people.

In the future, the cooperative zone will become a transportation and logistics hub along the Yangtze River, a pacesetter for innovation and start-ups, an open and developing experiment region, a featured scenic point, a pioneer in green and coordinated development.

The establishment of the Three Georges comprehensive transportation system is an important measure to exalt the Three Georges’ freight transportation capacity, and the system is the optimal node linking the Yangtze River economic belt and the belt and the road. So far, the Three Georges’ freight transportation capacity has been investigated by the National Development and Reform Commission Research Group for three times, and will be researched further and how to cope with the traffic congestion has been leveled up to national strategy.

Yichang is located in the junction between the middle and upper reaches of Yangtze River. Under such a special commission, the city government has conducted reseach in time on the transportation system and has planned to construct excellent ports, convenient highways and railways to be connected to the shipment through Yangtze River to ensure the safety and smooth operation of Yangtze River shipping. In the construction, more weight will be put on the building of North Bank Overdam expressway, Southbank Overdam Railway and Northbank Railway, and the building of Maoping Port, Zhicheng Port, Honghuatao Port, Taipingxi Port, Baiyang Port and Tianjiahe Port.

With the completion of these systematic projects, a coordinated and functionally cohesive overdam transportation system will be set up integrating overdam pivot ports, collecting and distributing transportation and logistics parks to solve the problem of promoting the freight capacity of the dam and ensure the smooth shipping through Yangtze River.

The further implementation of China’s 13th Five-Year Plan Outline will definitely exert a far-reaching effect on Chinese economy, society and people’s welfare while the construction of Three Gorges Ecological Economic Cooperative Zone and Three Georges Comprehensive Transportation System, namely, Yichang’s two strategies, will greatly promote Yichang’s status and roles in building of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the "Belt and Road”.