Zhuhai has given top priority to stabilizing growth and adhering to the principle of "industry first" to achieve regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 88.74 billion yuan in the first quarter of the year, a 4.2 percent year-on-year increase, officials announced during an economic analysis meeting on April 25.

It ranked fifth in Guangdong Province and third in the Pearl River Delta in terms of GDP growth rate, which was .9 percentage points higher than the province's average. 

The city's primary, secondary, and tertiary industries experienced 2.5, 6.9, and 2.6 percent increases respectively in the first quarter of 2022. The added value of industries above designated size rose by 9.8 percent to 35.19 billion yuan ($5.39 billion), four percentage points higher than Guangdong's average.

The added value of the city's seven pillar industries amounted to 28.79 billion yuan ($4.41 billion), a year-on-year increase of 12.7 percent, making up 81.8 percent of Zhuhai's total added value of industries above designated size.

The industrial, finance and information, as well as software and information technology service sectors were the top three contributors to Zhuhai's GDP, driving the city's economic growth rate by 3.7 percentage points.

A worker operates a machine in a factory in Zhuhai [Photo by Zhao Zi & Zhang Zhou / Zhuhai Daily]

Six Zhuhai districts and zones achieved positive GDP growth in the January-March period. Doumen topped all districts citywide in GDP growth rate, while Xiangzhou and Jinwan contributed 53.5 percent to Zhuhai's GDP growth.

The city's fixed-asset investment climbed by 1.4 percent to 47.08 billion yuan ($7.21 billion), driven by the manufacturing industry, which helped increased the city's fixed asset investment by 7 percentage points. 

A total of 469 key projects have been arranged in 2022, with estimated annual investment of 119.09 billion yuan ($18.23 billion). Among them, 52 are key provincial projects, with annual investment of 29.83 billion yuan ($4.57 billion). In the first quarter of the year, 26.7 percent of the city's annual construction plan has been completed, including completed investment of 7.98 billion yuan ($1.22 billion) for key provincial projects and 31.84 billion yuan ($4.87 billion) for key municipal projects. 

Fifty-four key projects started construction in the first quarter of the year, including Aiko Solar's new high-efficiency solar cells production base project and Zhuhai Yuexin Semiconductor's high-end RF project. They account for 48.6 percent of the total project number. 

The general public budget revenue of Zhuhai grew by 3.2 percent to 12.57 billion yuan ($1.92 billion) in the first quarter of the year, while the general public budget expenditure expanded by 31.2 percent to 23.35 billion yuan ($3.57 billion), ranking first in Guangdong in terms of growth rate.

Zhuhai provided more than 9,000 job opportunities for urban residents in the first three months of the year, with the per capita disposable income of all residents increasing by 3.2 percent. 

As of mid-April, Zhuhai's Top 10 Livelihood Projects for 2022 have all completed the given targets for the first quarter of the year.

A total of 1,058 public parking spaces have been added in the city during this period, surpassing the target of 1,000. In addition, preparations for relieving traffic pressure on 10 major arterial roads are underway, with one projected to be finished before September, three before National Day (Oct 1), and six before year end. 

In addition, an investment of 285 million yuan ($44 million) has gone to the construction, renovation, and expansion of public kindergartens and schools. Four of the 12 public kindergartens to be built or renovated have been put into operation. Work on seven of the eight public kindergartens and three of five public primary and middle schools to be constructed in Zhuhai industrial parks have started. The number of schools cooperating with third parties to offer after-school services has also increased to 42 from 24 in 2021.

Construction has started on six government-subsidized housing projects with 7,428 apartments, with two of them offering 5,296 new affordable housing apartments for rent.

Four new projects have started to transform 24 old residential communities in Doumen this year, benefiting 1,590 households. Efforts will also be made in road repair, parking lot construction, and sports grounds construction.

As of March 31, 1,064 grassroots "micro projects" have been identified with 2.12 million yuan ($323,700) in social funds, of which 166 have been completed.