Zhanjiang on right track for growth

With support from the local government, great progress has been made in terms of economic growth in Zhanjiang, a port city in southwestern Guangdong province, local officials said.

The city is on its way to becoming a major industrial city and fulfilling its goal of achieving prosperity within five years through industrial restructuring, energy conservation, innovation and agriculture transformation.

Its industrial output for this year is projected to reach 73 billion yuan ($11.6 billion), up 10.9 percent from a year earlier.

Of the 38 major industrial sectors, 28 sectors registered growth.

With the arrival of a major papermaking project in Zhanjiang, the output of the city's paper manufacturing industry grew by 208 percent over last year.

Other industries also grew robustly, including power generation, which increased by 17 percent.

The government has also launched some new incentive policies in the industrial sector.

This year it provided a 100,000-yuan bonus to 10 companies in priority industries, including Shandong's Chenming Paper's pulp manufacturing project, and Guangdong Yudean Group's biomass power generation project.

Zhanjiang's economy is expected to post a robust growth of 10.2 percent this year, well above the national and provincial average level, according to the Reform and Development Bureau of Zhanjiang.

Total tax revenue collected from Zhanjiang increased by 7.9 percent to 50 billion yuan while the tax income allocated to the city grew 15 percent to 9.2 billion yuan, according to the bureau.

Wang Zhongbing, mayor of Zhanjiang, said that the city is not only pursuing economic growth but also aspires to achieve cleaner air and water.

As a result, a series of energy conservation policies requiring relevant departments to meet strict environment standards have been implemented to ensure the city's sustainable development.

The government has banned some industrial projects with energy consumption, water consumption or emissions that are above the national average level.

Further, the local government is vigorously promoting clean energy projects, such as the liquefied natural gas project of China National Offshore Oil Corporation and several wind power projects in Xuwen and Leizhou in the southern part of the city.

These energy conservation projects have enabled the city to cut its expected energy consumption by 3 percent per GDP unit.

In addition to attracting more research centers and high-tech companies, the city's innovative capacity has also improved with the establishment of three provincial-level engineering centers, one key laboratory and four provincial-level high-tech companies. The output of high-tech firms is expected to achieve 10 percent growth for year 2012 to reach 27 billion yuan.

As for the agriculture sector, Zhanjiang is making great efforts to adjust and optimize the crop structure and to develop modern agriculture with tropical characteristics.

This year, the output value of the city's agricultural, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery industries is expected to reach 60.49 billion yuan, an increase of 6.5 percent over the previous year.

The city is also endeavoring to develop its infrastructure.

The construction of ring roads around the Leizhou Peninsula has been listed in China's land reserve plan, and the southern leg of the highway is now under construction.

A rail route connecting Maoming and Zhanjiang has completed some 61.5 percent of its financing.

And several key projects, including the reclamation project for the incoming petroleum and chemical project in Donghai Island, have began construction.

Meanwhile, the city's urban and rural consumer market remains prosperous.

For instance, Wangfujing Department Store, a famous nationwide department store chain, has opened its new branch in Zhanjiang.

The total retail sales of consumer goods hit 86.1 billion yuan, up 12 percent from a year ago.

Other achievements

The rapid development of transportation and logistics is another highlight of Zhanjiang.

This year, the city's port cargo throughput is expected to hit 170 million metric tons, an increase of 9 percent.

Container throughput grew to 410,000 twenty-foot equivalent units, up some 8 percent from a year earlier.

And also, Zhanjiang remains an open and popular city for foreign trade and investment.

Its main export products include textile yarn, furniture, machinery, paper and paperboard, refined oil, and natural barium sulfate.

Official statistics show that the city's imports and exports will surpass $4.4 billion this year, and export revenue will reach $2.2 billion. This year, the value of contracts signed between Zhanjiang enterprises and foreign companies reached $393.6 million, a year-on-year increase of 25 percent.

zhengyangpeng@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/31/2012 page7)