REGIONAL> Development
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REGIONAL> Development
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A new jewel rising from Tangshan Bay area
By Raymond Zhou (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-26 07:47 "The economy around Tokyo Bay is one third of Japan's total, anchoring on two big cities, including the capital city - Tokyo and Yokohama; Tangshan Bay has Beijing and Tianjin, one of which is also a capital city. Tokyo Bay has five major industries - iron and steel, chemicals, equipment manufacturing, logistics and high tech, and we have been approved for almost identical industries. One thing Tokyo Bay does not have - but we do - is the offshore oil field," explained Zhao. Pioneers Driving along the highway leading to the southernmost tip of Caofeidian, one sees a vast vista of flattened sandbank-filled land with occasional billboards and sand-blowing machines on the horizon. A cluster of buildings on the west side of the highway attracts attention for its magnificence. It is the new home of Shougang, one of the nation's biggest iron and steel plants.
The relocation of Shougang from the western suburb of Beijing to Caofeidian made headlines. Though presumably to be a move to clean up the capital city's air, it will help spark economic liftoff in the coastal area of Tangshan. But does that mean pollution will also be shifted to this less populated island? "When we talk about Shougang's move, we're talking in figurative terms. The capacity will be relocated, but not a single piece of equipment has actually been transported from Beijing to Caofeidian. Everything here is new and complies with much stricter environmental protection laws," explains Zhao Yong. The new venture, an equity partnership between Shougang and Tangshan Steel, will make use of every new technology available to minimize the impact on the environment: The waste residues will be turned into cement, waste gas used to generate electricity and waste water recycled. For people who work here, the life of a pioneer is not much fun. "We are 40 km from the nearest town, and we have little recreation here," said Xu Jianhua, an executive with the new Shougang. Xu is among the few thousand who shuttle from Beijing and downtown Tangshan every week. Every weekend a fleet of 40 buses make their way towards the big cities. "We put in overtime to master the skills of operating new equipment. The image of a steel worker using a shovel to toss coal into the furnace has been replaced with one operating a computer," said Xu. The first phase of Shougang's Caofeidian facility will start production on Oct 18. A blast furnace was spitting big fireballs the day we visited. "It is in testing," explained Xu. "When it goes into regular mode, you won't see the fire, and in production we'll rank as No 1 in the whole country and among the top five in the world."
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