Neighboring Beijing and Tianjin municipalities are planning to build a high-speed intercity transport network to propel regional economic integration, China Daily reported Tuesday.

Top leaders of the two cities have agreed to build a new railway which will take only half an hour to get commuters between the two cities, Tianjin Mayor Dai Xianglong was quoted as saying.

Dai said the construction of the railway project, with an estimated investment of 14.3 billion yuan (1.7 billion US dollars), is scheduled to start before June next year and begin operating in 2007.

Two new expressways linking the two metropolises are also expected to be built within a couple of years, said Dai, who was former governor of the People's Bank of China and elected Mayor of Tianjin last year.

Sources with the Tianjin Development and Planning Commission said the initial plans for the three projects have already been drawn up but still need to get the nod from the central government before construction can be started, according to the paper.

The commission said Tianjin is busy making preliminary preparations such as requisitioning land and relocating households from along the railway and expressway lines.

There is currently only one expressway between Tianjin and Beijing. Built in 1991, the four-lane route has seen an annual flow increase of 20 percent, resulting in traffic congestion.

Dai said the old expressway is overloaded most of the day, with most cars only managing average speed of 60 kilometers an hour.

Building new rapid transport links between the two cities is something the Tianjin municipal government has been "longing for day and night," said Dai.

Proposed intercity transport links are considered to be a step towards regional economic integration, with predictions that the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will become the third polar of economic growth after the Yangtze River and Pearl River deltas.