Many industrial parks not paying their way

THE GOVERNMENT of Anhui province has formally approved a plan to merge the five development parks in the Anqing New Chemical Industrial Concentration Zone into other development zones. This is a good beginning to halt the irrational expansion of industrial parks and development zones. Beijing News comments:

Statistics show that many industrial parks and development zones cover a larger area than that of the cities they are affiliated with, and many of them, particularly in the central and western regions remain ghost zones.

The existence of a large number of empty industrial parks and development zones causes a waste of land and money because they give rise to redundant construction and lead to vicious homogeneous competition among neighboring counties and cities.