Zhanjiang sets aim for high-quality development

Rural vitalization, economic growth powering city

The government of Zhanjiang, a subcenter of Guangdong province in South China, will highlight the industrialization, digitalization and ecological development of its fast-growing economy, said top city officials.

The city, located at the western part of Guangdong, was once less developed but has now ushered in a new area as its GDP surpassed 300 billion yuan ($46.3 billion), a widely-recognized benchmark for a faster economic expansion.

"We found the reform dynamics lie in the integrated development of the industrialization, ecology and digitalization," said Liu Hongbing, Party secretary of Zhanjiang, during a Party plenary meeting in the city in late July.

The synergy will take place in the city's increasing efforts in the coming years in the fields of industrial park construction, cultural and tourism programs and the increasing application of big data, he noted.

According to the government's blueprint, the city will build the province's largest industrial park, which will use an area of 620 square kilometers along with the ports to develop port-related industries.

Meanwhile, industrial parks in different districts and counties of Zhanjiang will contribute at least three industrial clusters with an annual output of 100 billion yuan each focusing on green petrochemicals, advanced materials and automobiles, as well as a group of industrial clusters that could generate an annual output of 10 billion yuan each.

The city will fully explore its cultural and tourism resources－long coastline, fancy natural scenery, long history and diversified folk customs－to make it a world-class tourism destination.

As a pilot city in China that was firstly equipped with a 5G network, Zhanjiang is seizing the opportunity to develop big data and integrate it with industry, agriculture, service and social security.

Also, a city with a big number of rural residents, which accounts for 62 percent of the city's total population, Zhanjiang will beef up its efforts to develop rural modernization in the next five years, said Mayor Zeng Jinze.

Relying on the city's industrial strength, the local government plans to allocate more resources to develop the deep processing of agricultural and sideline products, extend the production chain, enhance the added value and thus generate a rising number of agricultural brands with local characteristics.

Besides the development of smart agriculture, the government will help agricultural manufacturing, processing and circulation with the internet of things, big data and artificial intelligence, Zeng said.

Both the rural vitalization and urban economic development are in need of a pool of quality industrial workers, he noted.

The city hosted the opening ceremony of the second Guangdong Vocational Skills Competition on Aug 9. The competition, sponsored by Guangdong provincial government, will last from August to early December. It has set up a total of 141 competition events that cover areas including modern manufacturing, strategic emerging industries and modern services, making it the largest scale and the most influential event of its kind to be held in Guangdong to date.

The champions of different events will represent Guangdong to attend the national vocational skills competition by the year's end, according to the organizer.

"Zhanjiang can learn from other cities to improve its performance in training and managing technical talents, who can provide strong support for the city's rapid economic development," said Party secretary Liu during the opening ceremony.

In fact, a group of significant new investment in the fields of petrochemicals, steel production, paper making as well as the government's generous input in transportation and infrastructure have created jobs, which is becoming more attractive to technical workers.

In the first half of this year, Zhanjiang's GDP surged by 14.2 percent year-on-year to reach 162.0 billion yuan, official figures show. The industrial added-value of companies with at least 20 million yuan core business earnings jumped nearly 30 percent to nearly 41.3 billion yuan, ranking third in terms of growth rate among all the major cities in Guangdong.

chenhong@chinadaily.com.cn

The government of Zhanjiang in South China's Guangdong province is dedicated to developing characteristic agriculture. HUANG FENGQIONG/FOR CHINA DAILY

A roadshow on the application of digital technologies is held in Zhanjiang on July 30. The event promoted high-quality development of the city through digitalization. LANG SHUCHEN/FOR CHINA DAILY