Guangzhou and Hong Kong would become closer with a planned express rail link, Guangzhou Mayor Zhang Guangning told a press conference Monday.

He was speaking following the closing ceremony of the Third Session of the 12th Guangzhou Municipal People's Congress.

Trains on the proposed express rail link would reach speeds of up to 400 kilometers per hour, cutting the travel time from 90 minutes to half an hour.

Zhang said the new railway could terminate at Panyu in Guangzhou, allowing it to link with another railway to Wuhan in Hubei Province now under construction.

Passengers could have dinner in Hong Kong after finishing a day's work in Guangzhou, Zhang said.

The mayor suggested the two cities establish a coordinating team for better cooperation in tourism, infrastructure construction, trade and other fields.

Zhang also spoke about problems facing farmers, urban planning, migrant workers and high technology when answering questions at the press conference.

Surplus rural labor

Guangzhou had 200,000 surplus rural laborers, the mayor said.

The city had spent 20 million yuan (US$2.4 million) in 2004 in retraining 50,000 laborers and it would take four more years for the government to train the remaining 150,000 to enable them to find jobs in newly-established towns or other urban areas, Zhang said.

Urban planning

Guangzhou would implement a large readjustment of its urban planning. When asked whether Guangzhou would set up new administration areas, Zhang said details could not be announced before the city's plan was approved by the State Council. But he said the readjustment was necessary to develop Guang-zhou into a modern metropolis.

Migrant workers

When asked whether the city was facing a shortage of migrant workers, the mayor said what the city really needed was skilled workers. He said Guangzhou would develop more training programs for skilled workers and pay more attention to protecting migrant workers' rights.

High technology

Zhang said Guangzhou would support the development of high technology. In 1996, high technology accounted for only 6 percent of the city's total industrial output but had reached 24.9 percent by the end of 2004.

The city had established a high-tech venture capital fund with 1 billion yuan to help high-tech enterprises and would continue to invest more in this field, he said.

The government would strengthen its efforts to solve problems frequently complained about by the public, such as public security, the environment, food safety and traffic, the mayor said.

Editor: Olivia