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Growth engine

By Wu Yong (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-04-26 14:29

The coastal region development plan mapped out for Liaoning is all set to explore a new port development mode and drive economic growth.

Li Keqiang, secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, said Liaoning would implement the "Five Points and One Line" strategy to develop its coastal regions.

The ports in the five cities of Huludao, Jinzhou, Yingkou, Dalian and Dandong, all located along the coastline of Bohai Bay and Yellow Sea, are to be expanded, according to the strategy.

"We should grasp the opportunity and make full use of the unique advantages as a coastal province to speed up the development and revitalization of the traditional industrial base, " said Li.

Moreover, local authorities also plan to build a road along the bay to connect all the coastal cities, so as to push forward transportation and logistics there.

"The essence of the policy is to form an all-round, multi-layered and wide-ranging scheme. The coastal region will become a window and bridge to the outside world," said Feng Guisheng, a researcher from Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences.

And it will promote the overall development of two other Northeast China provinces Jilin and Heilongjiang, Feng noted.

As the nation's traditional industrial bases, Liaoning and the two other provinces launched a restructuring programme for their State-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the mid-1990s. After a decade of efforts, they have made good progress in solving the problems of laid-off workers and bankrupt SOEs. It is now time for them to find a new engine to spur economic growth.

Unique geographic location

Liaoning has 2,421 kilometres of coastline and nearly one-third of its cities are located along the coast. It is the only province in Northeast China with these advantages and has established trade links with hundreds of ports across the world.

Located at the intersection between the Beijing-Tianjin city belt and the Northeast China region, the province serves as a transportation hub for Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces and even the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Furthermore, Liaoning is key to building the North Asia free trade zone, due to its close connection with Japan and the Republic of Korea.

Sound industries

As a traditional industrial base, Liaoning enjoys great advantages in the manufacturing and material industries. In the past decade, industries of marine chemistry, petrochemicals, metallurgy machinery, electronics, bio-chemicals, and grain have become the province's economic pillars.

Experts believe Liaoning's current focus on coastal areas development will enable the area to grow into a large-scale, comprehensive and modern industrial base, which will then lead to inland development.

Land, labour resources

Liaoning boasts of abundant land. Sources from the government say that most of the land in the coastal areas is abandoned saline and sand beach, not good for farming but suitable for industrial development. Moreover, most of it is State-owned.

Within the framework of the nation's strict land use policies, the local government provides incentives for enterprises. It also encourages outside investors and will offer preferential policies for them.

Long industrialized Liaoning can furnish all types of skilled and technical manpower.

Besides, costs are much lower than neighbouring Tianjin and Beijing.

Statistics from Huludao show that an average salary there is only 600 yuan (US$ 74.9) per month.

Open economy

Liaoning's coastal region is now seeing rapid opening-up. Dalian has become one of the biggest seaports in China over the past few years.

Moreover, the belt has seen development for over two decades, and many seaports, economic technological development zones, bonded areas, high-tech development areas, and large-scale industrial bases have been built there.

Dalian now has 80 berths for handling containers, oil, coal and other cargo. Dalian Port operates China's biggest crude oil terminal with a capacity of 300,000 metric tons.

Investment environment

Besides all these natural and social advantages, Liaoning also provides a favourable investment environment.

Last June, the State Council released a special policy to encourage the further opening up of Northeast China to help revitalize the traditional industrial bases there.

It issued many preferential policies, including financial, land use and taxation incentives, to encourage foreign companies to invest in the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang.

"With the unique advantage of coastal resources, Liaoning Province can greatly enjoy these policies," said Feng.