Beijing is set to unveil a new policy to regulate its residence permits, which will help to reform the existing household registration system, or the Hukou system, the Beijing Youth Daily reports.

A spokesman for the Legal Affairs Office of the Beijing Municipality said the new policy on issuing residence permits will be based on the residence permits policy drafted by the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council in December last year.

Migrant workers with residence permits will have equal access to education, housing and working opportunities as those with a Beijing Hukou or household registration number, according to the new policy.

Zhang Zhaowei, vice president of the Institute of Modern Urban-Rural Development Planning says the implementation of the new policy will attract more talent to work in Beijing and increase the mobility of the workforce in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

He also says the new policy can promote social justice in this region.

Yet Zhang warns that the Hukou reforms in megacities like Beijing can also lead to more migrants flooding into the cities. This will put a strain on public resources like education and healthcare.

He is urging the government to step up its efforts to strengthen the social welfare system in order to reduce the inequality between urban and rural areas and among difference regions of the country.