CHINA will allocate more state funding and unveil preferential fiscal and land policies to revitalize its aging industrial cities under a 10-year plan.

The plan for 2013 to 2022 covers 95 prefecture-level cities and 25 areas under municipalities and provincial capitals, including Shanghai's Minhang District, the National Development and Reform Commission said yesterday.

The plan will be a key part of government efforts to support the development of what were once the cradle of the country's industrial sector as well as improve China's economic structure and encourage urbanization. The State Council, or the Cabinet, has approved the plan, the NDRC said. An initial plan issued in late 2011 covered 65 cities.

Under the plan, the government will invest to help the industrial cities upgrade technology and relocate plants. The plan also encourages companies to issue bonds to raise capital.

The government also promised to transfer more fiscal revenue to help cover pension fund shortages and help with the redeployment costs of employees at state-owned firms which went bankrupt.

By 2017, or the halfway point, high-tech industries must account for 17.8 percent of the regions' industrial output while service sectors must make up 45 percent of local economy.

Water consumption per unit of industrial output will also be trimmed by 32 percent by 2017 from the level in 2012 while energy consumption per unit of local gross domestic product will be reduced by 18 percent, according to the plan.

The industrial bases, which accounted for nearly a quarter of the nation's GDP in 2011, are plagued with poor urban planning and infrastructure, serious emissions and pollution, above-average jobless rate, and lagged reforms at state-owned enterprises.