Knowledge center becoming smart eco-city

The Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City is expected to become a new model zone for Guangdong province's and even the entire country's industrial transformation and upgrade in the years to come.

Located in Guangzhou's Huangpu district, SSGKC will focus on attracting new and high-tech industries and projects, including new materials, new energy, biological medicine, health and intelligence, said Xu Hui, deputy director of the general office of the SSGKC.

"No pollution or high-energy-consuming projects will be approved in the SSGKC, which is attaching great importance to environmental protection," Xu said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the SSGKC is also expected to become a platform for China's collaboration with the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United States and Israel, while expanding its ties with Singapore.

To this end, the SSGKC has set up its first offshore representative office in Singapore, and is working with the Singapore Business Federation, the Information Technology Association of America, Israel's Chamber of Commerce and 10 other overseas organizations to foster cooperation with major Western countries.

"The SSGKC plans to attract more than 2,000 new and high-tech companies from around the world by 2020," Xu added.

With its high forest coverage rate, the SSGKC has harnessed Singapore's advanced management methods and experience to help run the project while maintaining and protecting its green spaces, explained Xu.

It plans to become an eco-city, a learning city, a smart city, as well as a low-carbon emissions city that is suitable for both working and living, Xu said.

The SSGKC has also taken measures to build strategic cooperation with the Texas Medical Center to acquire the latest global medical research and facilitate more world-renowned medical institutions settling in the SSGKC.

In addition, the area is seeking strategic cooperation with major Chinese hospitals and medical research organizations and institutions to promote its medical treatment standards, Xu said.

Raymond Liu, senior brand licensing manager of Alpha Animation Brand Management (Guangzhou), said the SSGKC has put preferential policies in place to encourage emerging and high-tech companies to settle down in its industrial parks.

Covering an area of 123 square kilometers, the SSGKC is linked to major cities on the mainland and neighboring Hong Kong and Macao by advanced high-speed railway and expressway networks.

By the end of November, total investment in the SSGKC reached more than 54.2 billion yuan.

The SSGKC has become an iconic project of Sino-Singapore cooperation, similar to the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park in East China's Jiangsu province and Tianjin Eco-City.

Leaders from Guangdong and Singapore jointly initiated the SSGKC project to serve as a strategic development platform and a model for economic transformation and industrial upgrade. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on June 30, 2010.

The SSGKC is positioned as a unique, vibrant and sustainable city that is highly attractive to talents in knowledge-based industries. It is expected to house a residential population of more than 500,000 and will provide a harmonious environment for living, working, learning and thriving.

zhengcaixiong@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/16/2016 page7)