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China has picked 18 designing and consulting companies and institutes from home and abroad to lay out the five function zones for the Binhai New Area in northern port city of Tianjin.

More than 50 international companies participated in the bidding. The winning bidder include U.S.-based RTKL Associates Inc., Hong Kong-based Scott Wilson and the Beijing-based China Academy of Urban Planning and Designing, Ren Yulai, director of the Tianjin Municipal Bureau of Planning, told Xinhua on Wednesday.

The Binhai New Area is a national pilot reform base listed in the country's development plan for 2006 and 2010.

Upon completion it will cover an area of 2,270 square kilometers and is situated 120 kilometers to the southeast of Beijing. It generated 160 billion yuan in gross domestic product in 2005.

China is trying to turn the area into its third economic engine following Shenzhen and Pudong of Shanghai, the economic powerhouses of the country's southern and eastern coastal areas.

The 18 institutions were told to work out detailed plans for the layout of the five function zones in Binhai within two months, including a hi-tech zone, a port logistics zone, an airport logistics zone, a central business district and a resort area, said Pi Qiansheng, director of the Administrative Committee of the Binhai New Area.

After that, well-known experts will be invited to give appraisals of the plans and then the public will be asked for suggestions, Pi said.

"The general design principles focus on creativity, individuality and feasibility," he said.