Industrial parks benefit residents, tourists in Hainan

"As a feedback and a token of thanks to the residents of Qionghai for their great contribution in the construction and operation of Lecheng pilot zone, our volunteer medical consultation and health service activities will be extended to cities and counties across the island to enhance healthcare awareness among Hainan residents," said Liu Zhefeng, deputy director of the pilot zone administration.

"We also want to let them know that they can visit the zone's hospitals instead of going elsewhere for medical treatment, because, apart from its high-end sophisticated technologies and services, Lecheng also provides a lot of medical services that are supported by the local social medical insurance system," Liu said.

He added that a special commercial insurance policy on imported medicines will be introduced at the zone early next month in a bid to drag down the prices and make imported medicine more affordable for the average people in China.

To serve more people with its unique medical resources, Boao Evergrande International Hospital at the zone has launched a three-year-long charity lung cancer screening program for high-risk people, both locals and tourists, following a similar charity service on breast cancer introduced last year. Each year, 780,000 people become lung cancer victims in China, according to the National Cancer Center of China.

"While making contributions to the local economy, key industrial parks in Hainan have also created solid benefits for the local people, including more jobs, better income, better infrastructure, construction of special-feature towns that have helped many families getting out of poverty and living in a much more comfortable environment," said Xia with the Hainan University institute.

The Yangpu Economic Development Zone, for instance, the main industrial park in Hainan which is serving as the pilot zone for early policy arrangements for the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port, has provided effective support to improve the welfare of the local rural communities nearby. In the past five years, the zone provided jobs to 611 people from poverty-stricken families and rebuilt houses for 149 poor families, according to the Yangpu zone administration.

The Hainan Software Resort Community, another key industrial park and home to 5,620 firms engaging in innovative information technologies－such as cutting-edge blockchain technology, has provided jobs to local villagers as horticulturists, security staff and cleaners, in addition to the employment of more than 10,000 high-end people.

Data from the provincial government show that by the end of 2019, there were 19,588 companies in Hainan's 25 large-size industrial parks, accounting for 33.9 percent of the province's total tax revenue but covering less than 1 percent of the province's land resources.