Guangdong's Nansha Plans to Mold China's 2nd 'Pudong'

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, September 23, 2002

Guangdong's Nansha Plans to Mold China's 2nd 'Pudong'

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Guangzhou, a strategic city in South China, is shifting its gravitation of development southward. Lying at the center of the Zhujiang River Delta, Nansha Town will become a hub of heavy, hi-tech and cargo transportation industries in a matter of several years. Experts point out that Nansha will play a crucial role in globalizing the Pearl River Delta in a more initiative way.

Last month the construction headquarters of the Nansha development zone was formally inaugurated. Meanwhile, some huge projects with a total investment of RMB 5 billion yuan were allocated in bolstering up the Puzhou scientific technological zone, representing launching of the Nansha construction plan. As reported, millions of yuan will be injected into infrastructure construction of the Nansha development zone over an area of 173 square kilometers.

Since 1991, Pudong's development and opening-up has boosted Shanghai's economic takeoff and concurrently the Yangtze River Delta. Since the new century began, Guangdong Province has also made a strategic decision to develop Nansha and build a new Guangzhou city.

Nanhsa enjoys a favorable geographical position: 38 sea miles to Hong Kong and with 14 big and medium-sized cities and 5 airports around. Nansha will by its development help Guangzhou rise as a modern coastal city in the place of its past.

Experts hold that Guangzhou boasts a complete range of industries, including processing, heavy industry as of iron and steel making, shipbuilding, petrochemicals etc. However, due to historical reasons, these are mostly concentrated in the city proper. Nansha will by its development change this situation as Lin Shusen, mayor of Guangzhou believes, " the impetus of the economic growth of Guangzhou lies in the full utilization of its coastal economic advantages."

Lin Shusen also indicates that they will accelerate the effort to build up the bases for shipbuilding, petrochemical industry and iron and steel making. Shazi Island will be built into an industrial base for shipbuilding, machinery and container manufacture, while industries with pollution free and heavy transport industry will be arranged in the area of eastern Huangge Town. As to petrochemical industry, Waniqing Shazhen with a planned area of about 33 square kilometers will attract many multinationals to set up branches in the area. There will be built an iron and steel base at Wanqingsha with an annual output of 5 million tons of steel.

Though with an economy among those most advanced in China, since China's entry into the WTO, the Pearl River Delta has come to face fierce competition at home and abroad. Operating as an important hub of global processing industry it still carries on with a rather industrial structure, relying heavily on import for its raw material supply and machine tools along with a "bottle neck" found affecting an all-round growth of its competitive edge.

"Thus, developing Nansha is more than simply a restructuring of local industries but a major choice by Guangdong to push its economy to a higher level and develop on a larger scale. Nansha will by its development further stress its leading position among regional economies and promote the development of the whole South China economy," said Chen Guanghan, director of an economic research center.

He also added that the development of Nansha would help rise a new platform of economic cooperation between Guangdong and Hong Kong. On one hand, enterprises in Gunagdong and Hong Kong will carry out exchanges through Nansha; on the other hand, Nansha will promote the cooperation and give impetus to reciprocal economic development of the concerned parties. Reports say that a common understanding has been reached between related parties that cooperation in high technology and cargo transport will be launched first before other industrial lines.

By PD Online Staff Zhu Lizhen

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