Qiqihar expands infrastructure, transport links
Far to China's northeast, the city of Qiqihar in Heilongjiang province is building more roads and improving other infrastructure to strengthen its commercial links to the rest of the nation.
Its efforts are part of the Harbin-Daqing-Qiqihar industrial corridor project begun in 2005 that aims to augment growth in the region.
The provincial government has allocated funds for infrastructure construction in the three cites, so Qiqihar is capitalizing on the opportunity to accelerate its development.
A dock on the Nenjiang River to load and ship heavy machinery is planned for completion this year, while new roadways are expanding at a rapid pace.
The first stage of a new 324-km highway, part of the Beijing-Jagdaqi line, is expected to be completed this year to become one of the arterial roads in the province.
Two other road projects will start construction in Qiqihar next year.
One is a 129.3 km section of the Suifenhe-Manzhouli Expressway that will run through Heilongjiang province and Inner Mongolia to link three State-level ports of entry and facilitate commerce between China and other countries and regions of the Far East.
The other project will improve an existing 108 km road into an expressway.
New or extended transport links will further integrate Qiqihar in the industrial corridor and serve a 45 sq km hi-tech industrial park planned by the city.
To attract companies to the park, local authorities have adopted preferential policies intended to streamline administrative procedures and offer favorable terms on land use, financing, taxes and fees.
By the end of 2007, 122 companies - 80 percent of them private - had built facilities in the industrial park with a combined value of 6.96 billion yuan.
The industrial output of the park reached 6.13 billion yuan in the past two years.
The city government plans to develop 29.28 sq km along the industrial corridor by 2010. Projections call for 112 sq km in new development to comprise 12.2 percent of the province's total industrialized land by 2020.
(China Daily 06/17/2008 page15)
