City enhances transport links

Editor's note: In 2014, Nantong made progress with both social and economic projects. Nantong Report will introduce the city's achievements and update any changes regularly. In this edition, we look at what the city is doing to upgrade its infrastructure.

The Nantong government has increased investment to improve the city’s infrastructure and expand its transportation network.[Provided to China Daily]

• The East Nantong Bus Station opened in January 2014. The station is a modern passenger traffic hub that integrates different means of transportation and provides seamless transfers for passengers.

The station provides 96 inter-city or inter-province routes, from Nantong to southern Jiangsu province, as well as Shanghai and other provinces including Zhejiang, Anhui and Fujian.

It caters for more than 10,000 people each day with 450 buses running daily. The station, which now serves another 15 newly-opened intra-city bus lines, allows passengers to transfer without leaving the complex.

• The construction of the Shanghai-Nantong Yangtse River Bridge, which is expected to be the world's biggest cable-stayed bridge for both railways and vehicles, started on March 1, 2014.

Li Xueyong, governor of Jiangsu province, Lu Chunfang, deputy general manager of China Railway Corporation, Jiang Zhuoqing, deputy mayor of Shanghai, and other officials attended the ceremony marking the beginning of the construction.

With a main span of 1,092 meters, the first of its kind to reach 1,000 meters in length in the world, the bridge is a critical link for the Shanghai-Nantong Railway. The project is an investment of 15 billion yuan ($2.4 billion).

When completed, the bridge will significantly enhance Nantong¡s position as a gateway and traffic portal for the region.

• The feasibility study on Jiuweigang Water-lifting Pump Station was approved by the central government in March 2014.

The 370-million-yuan project will improve the general water quality of the city. It will also play a crucial part in ensuring the city¡¯s water supply, enhancing the integrated development of land and sea, and its water-related ecological environment.

The project is expected to ease the effects of disasters such as droughts and floods in the region.

• A highway network has taken shape in the urban areas of Nantong.

At the end of May 2014, two overpass bridges, the Tongjing Bridge and Tongsheng Bridge, started operation.

The city's highways, more than 80 kilometers long, started functioning as a network system. The system has shortened the distances between the city's core areas and its North City New Town, Guanyinshan New Town, Nanyi New Town, and Tongzhou district town.

The city has realized its goal for traffic improvement set in 2009. The target proposed by the local government then was to allow vehicles in the downtown area to reach the highway in 10 minutes, reach the expressway in 20 minutes, and commute between any two points in the core city area in less than 30 minutes.

• The Nantong section of the Coastal High-grade Highway, with an investment of 6 billion yuan, opened in June 2014.

The highway, together with the freeway along the Yangtse River, strings the city's eight industrial parks and its three deep-water harbors.

Benefiting 35 percent of the city's population and affecting 43 percent of its total area, the highway is expected to play a crucial role in boosting Nantong's coastal development and further enhancing its integration and collaboration with Shanghai.

• The Taicang-Nantong section of the 12.5 meter shipping lane along the Yangtse River's main channel was put into use last July.

Ships of 50,000 tons can reach Nantong Harbor around the clock; those with a tonnage of 100,000 can dock during high tides, while ships of 200,000 tons can regularly enter the harbor after unloading.

With the shipping lane, Nantong Harbor, though a port along the river, is effectively functioning as a seaport.

The port is expected to play an important part in facilitating Nantong's participation in the construction of the economic belt along the Yangtse River and improve access to international markets.

• In August 2014, Yangkou Port, Qidong Port, and Dongzao Port Area were approved as national first-class open ports. So far, Nantong has four such ports.

The nation's first public bonded warehouse for agricultural and associated products was opened in Nantong in February 2014.

Last June, the B district of Nantong Bonded Area went into full operation. The China-Austria Cooperation Center was inaugurated in the city two months later.

The Rugao Harbor Bonded Logistics Center was approved by the central government last October.

Nantong is the only prefecture-level city to provide consular legalization in Jiangsu province.

• Last August, Nantong's construction plan for urban railway transportation was approved by the State Council, making it the 37th city nationwide to acquire permission for urban railway construction.

• As of Dec 25, the passenger throughput of Nantong Airport hit 900,000 in 2014, a rise of 37.9 percent year-on-year. Its cargo throughput reached 31,000 tons, rising 30 percent.

• The Dongsha Bridge, located in the Binjiang New Area of Tongzhou district, has been completed. It is an important project that links the Kaisha Island and Henggangsha Area of Tongzhou's Binjiang New Area to the outside world.

The bridge is 3.42 kilometers long and has four lanes both ways. It is expected to play an important role in enhancing Nantong's downtown area and the development of Kaishan Island.