The economic growth of Beijing dropped two percentage points this year, largely as a result of controls implemented on car and home purchases, which were intended to ease traffic jams and rein in rocketing home prices, according to a top municipal official.

The relocation of Shougang Group, a heavyweight steel maker, also contributed to the slowdown of the city's gross domestic product (GDP), said Liu Qi, secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The iron and steel making facilities relocated to Caofeidian of Tangshan City in Hebei province as part of Beijing's efforts to reduce pollution.

Despite the shrinkage, Beijing can still reach its goal of 8-percent GDP growth, said Liu at a plenary session of the committee, which was held from Dec. 19 to 21.

The municipal government decided to limit the number of new cars on the road by controlling the issuance of new license plates. This year's quota was set at 24,000, compared with more than 80,000 new plates in 2010.

To get a license plate requires participation in a monthly lottery process run by the municipal government.

Car sales contribute to one third of Beijing's retail sales, while the property sector accounts for more than 50 percent of the city's investment, and contributes more than 20 percent to its fiscal revenue, according to Liu.

Beijing is one of the pioneer cities that have imposed a raft of measures aiming to rein in housing prices amid nationwide concerns about an overheated economy since April 2010. These measures include higher down payments, home ownership limits and less access to loans.

Although the control measures and the relocation of Shougang have resulted in the slowdown, the city has witnessed robust growth momentum in cultural and creative sectors this year, and the city is relying more on technical and cultural innovations for economic growth, Liu said.

In fact, technology has become the prominent force for development in Beijing.

In 2011, the contract value of the technology market rose to 181 billion yuan (28.63 billion U.S dollars), a 35-percent increase year-on-year.

As the country's cultural and education hub, Beijing has significant advantages in technology and human resources, which determine the city's future, said Zhang Gong, director with the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform.

For Beijing, it's a critical strategy to build its technology hub of Zhongguancun into another "Silicon Valley," targeting a revenue of 10 trillion yuan (1.5 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2020, a big jump from the 1.3 trillion yuan of revenue in 2009, Zhang said.

According to China's 12th Five-year Plan, Beijing will transform its Zhongguancun technological base into a globally influential center for scientific and technological innovation by 2015.

The nearly 20,000 companies based in Zhongguancun earned 1.55 trillion yuan in revenue in 2010, up 20 percent year-on-year. The area accounts for 19.2 percent of Beijing's gross domestic product (GDP).

To reach the goal, the city will use 50 billion yuan from its fiscal revenue to help commercialize scientific and technological innovation in the 2011-2015 period.

Beijing will foster its function as the country's cultural innovation hub by facilitating the creative and cultural industries.

In the first eight months in 2011, Beijing has received revenue of 450.64 billion in the creative and cultural industries, contributing more than 12 percent to the GDP.

All these achievements show that economic growth in Beijing is now becoming more balanced. Moreover, Beijing also is making efforts to reduce energy consumption and pollutant emissions, Zhang said.

It is a challenge as well as an opportunity for Beijing to slow its economical growth pace for a period, but to dedicate itself to fostering new high-quality economic growth points and pillar industries, said Zhao Hong, deputy director with the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences.