Suzhou is striving to build a new ``Suzhou'' by implementing the Jiangsu provincial government's strategy to develop areas along the Yangtze River, said Zhou Weiqiang, vice mayor of Suzhou, a city located at the mouth of the Yangtze River and neighboring Shanghai .

On Suzhou's 137 kilometers of the Yangtze River line sit three county-level cities: Zhangjiagang, Changshu and Taichang. The combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the three cities reached 91.1 billion yuan (US$10.98 billion) and the overall industrial output value hit 198.6 billion yuan last year, constituting 44 and 39 percent of Suzhou's total, respectively.

``By implementing the strategy of developing areas along the Yangtze River section in Jiangsu, we will try to ensure total economic strength of the three cities of Zhangjiagang, Changshu and Taichang to reach the level of today's Suzhou city as a whole and build a ``new Suzhou'' in five years for Jiangsu Province,'' said Zhou, the vice mayor.

``The development of local harbor resources will be top priority and Suzhou will build the largest foreign trade port in Jiangsu Province,'' added the mayor.

Suzhou Harbor, which consists of Zhangjiagang Port, Changshu Port and Taichang Port, has 79 berths, 34 of which can handle shipments above 10,000 tons. The harbor processed 48.72 million tons of goods last year, up 36 percent over the previous year.

In the next few years Suzhou will add 23 more berths with a handling capacity above 10,000 tons. By 2010 the figure is expected to exceed 120 million tons while the handling capacity of containers will reach 2.6 million TEUs.

``Riverside industries, in the meantime, will be also be promoted to make sure Suzhou becomes the leader of Jiangsu's riverside international manufacturing corridor,'' said the vice mayor.

With Shagang Steel Corporation as its core, Suzhou will build China's largest electric-stove steel and quality thin-steel sheet production base with an annual production capacity of 10 million tons each.

Suzhou also plans to build an international petrochemical park, a metallurgical park, a ship-buiding park and China's largest paper product manufacturing base with a production capacity of 10 million tons per year.

The city is eyeing international logistics service giants to help it develop a major logistic base in the Yangtze River Delta which covers Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang.

Moreover, the ambitious city plans to build the world's largest comprehensive grain and oil processing base with an annual in-depth processing capacity of 1 million tons of edible oil and 3 million tons of corn products.

(By Ma Zhiping)

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