12 | Friday, September 18, 2020 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY

Transport links to see region rise to prominence

By HAO NAN

Zhanjiang in South China’s 5.1 Guangdong province is witnessing million major progress in several key con­ passenger throughout of the struction projects aimed at new airport by 2030 upgrading its transportation infra­ structure facilities. Another major project is Xuwen In Wuchuan, a county­level city, Harbor, which is being built to construction on the relocated become a key hub connecting Zhanjiang Airport has moved for­ Guangdong and Hainan provin­ ward as planned. ces. The harbor is designed to have The new airport is located 32 an annual handling capacity of 3.2 kilometers away from Zhanjiang’s million vehicles and 17.28 million urban area and 38 km from the passengers. urban area of Maoming, a neigh­ Construction on the harbor The picturesque Huguangyan Scenic Area in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province. YANG XIAO / FOR CHINA DAILY boring city of Zhanjiang. started on Jan 1, 2017 and is expect­ In addition to mainly serving ed to be finished for operation in Guangdong’s western areas, the October. When completed, Xuwen airport is also designed for emer­ Harbor will become a first­class gency rescue and general aviation and one of the most functional activities. passenger ro­ro ferry harbors in When completed, the new air­ the world, with seamless connec­ Key projects push Zhanjiang port will have a runway measuring tion to highways, waterways, rail­ 3,200 meters and a parallel taxi­ ways and urban buses. way of equal length, as well as 30 It is of great significance for parking bays, a 61,800­square­me­ serving the construction of Hain­ ter terminal building and other an Free Trade Port and promoting forward as subcenter supporting facilities. the implementation of the Belt It is scheduled to open in March and Road Initiative, local officials 2022. By then, the airport, together said. Sinopec and BASF among companies pouring billions of dollars with its supporting expressways Zhanjiang is also utilizing its into Guangdong’s coastal economic belt and railways, will form a three­di­ geographical advantage as a port mensional and integrated traffic city to become a national hub for network. logistics. Related projects include By HAO NAN in power plants, desulfurization and By 2030, the new airport’s pas­ a 400,000­ton waterway construc­ [email protected] denitrification of flue gas, wastewa­ senger and cargo throughput is tion project of Zhanjiang Port, ter treatment and rainwater recy­ expected to reach 5.1 million and which is expected to be completed The harbor­based industry of cling. In 2017 and 2020, the project 30,600 metric tons, with 47,400 next year, and the upgrade of bulk Zhanjiang, a city in South China’s was awarded by the Ministry of takeoffs and landings annually. cargo wharf in Xiashan harbor Guangdong province, has been on a Industry and Information Technolo­ The Zhanjiang section of the area. fast development track in recent gy for highly efficient use of water in Yulin­Zhanjiang Expressway Li Xi, Party secretary of Guang­ years with the establishment of sev­ the iron and steel industry. opened on Thursday, and signifi­ dong, said at a recent meeting in eral projects worth tens of billions of The BASF smart Verbund site is cantly reduces the driving time Zhanjiang that the city should dollars each in investment. China’s first large petrochemical between the two cities from four seize opportunities brought by the One is the Zhongke (Guangdong) project solely owned by a foreign hours to an hour and a half. The construction of the Guangdong­ Refinery and Petrochemical project. investor. expressway is one of nine channels Hong Kong­Macao Greater Bay Located on Donghai Island, the Construction of the German linking Guangdong and the Area; the Shenzhen demonstra­ project is the largest of its kind by chemical giant’s largest single Guangxi Zhuang autonomous tion pilot zone for socialism with China Petrochemical Corp, or Sino­ investment in China kicked off in region, and boosts Zhanjiang’s sta­ Chinese characteristics; and the pec. Zhanjiang in November 2019. tus as a central city in western Hainan Free Trade Port, and speed The giant petrochemical project It is also BASF’s third­largest pro­ Guangdong and a national inte­ up construction of bullet train began operation on June 16. By Aug duction site in the world, after Lud­ grated transportation hub. lines, airport, expressways, har­ 30, it had provided the Chinese mar­ wigshafen and Antwerp in Belgium, The 100­km expressway bors and other infrastructure. ket with 33,800 metric tons of gaso­ with a total investment of $10 bil­ (Guangdong section) has 10 exits Li also called on Zhanjiang to line and diesel that met the national lion. and entrances that reach out to enhance coordinated development VI standard and on Sept 4, 280 tons The first group of facilities is nearly every town and village pass­ with its neighboring Maoming and of polypropylene resins. under construction and is to be put ing by. Yangjiang cities, and strengthen Its first phase is expected to realize into use by 2022. In northern Zhanjiang, the Tiao­ the rural revitalization strategy by an annual industrial output value of Scheduled to be completed by shun Cross­sea Bridge project is focusing on planting and process­ more than 60 billion yuan ($8.78 bil­ 2030, the project will form a solid also progressing smoothly. The ing high­quality agricultural prod­ lion) and generate pre­tax profits of foundation for a world­class indus­ bridge has a total length of 9.36 ucts such as pineapple, banana more than 26 billion yuan a year. trial cluster in Zhanjiang and pro­ km. and mango. The project will support the Chi­ vide impetus for economic growth in na’s Belt and Road Initiative and the city, southern China and Asia in national development in energy and the coming years. chemical industries. During a conference held in Zhan­ It will also help Zhanjiang realize jiang earlier this year, Zheng Renhao, the goal of developing itself into a Party secretary of Zhanjiang, urged subcenter of Guangdong and a governments at different levels to major growth point of the province’s A media delegation visits the site of Zhongke (Guangdong) Refin­ gear up to carry out the three­year modern coastal economic belt, local ery and Petrochemical’s project in Zhanjiang. CHAI HUA / CHINA DAILY (2020­22) plan to promote high­ officials said. quality development of manufac­ Deng Hanshen, a senior executive turing industry by strengthening of the project, added it may help Baosteel Zhanjiang Iron and Steel ang will increase its total production and expanding industrial chains attract more than 200 billion yuan of project is another major driver of the capacity to 12.25 million tons of mol­ and promoting industrial clusters. investment to the middle and lower city’s port­based economic develop­ ten iron; 12.52 million tons of molten “The city will highlight the devel­ reaches of the city’s petrochemical ment. steel; and 10.81 million tons of steel. opment of harbor­based industries industry, including plastic materials, Also located on Donghai Island, Although the steel industry has so that the city will become a major electronic chemicals and fine chemi­ the plant is one of the four produc­ long been seen as a major contribu­ base for world­class, green and pre­ cals. tion bases of the world­leading steel­ tor to heavy pollution, construction mium heavy and chemical indus­ Currently, some supporting plants maker Baosteel Group. of the Baosteel project in Zhanjiang tries,” he noted. of the project are under construction It will celebrate the fifth anniver­ did not harm the local environment. The city will also redouble efforts and their derivative products will be sary of its first blast furnace on Sept This is thanks to its smart manufac­ to develop its traditional industrial beneficial to new materials, the light 25 and plans to operate a third by turing and environmentally friendly clusters, while fostering and mak­ industry, autos and other related July 2021. technologies. ing bigger strategic growth indus­ The Zhanjiang section of the Yulin­Zhanjiang Expressway opens sectors, Deng said. Once completed, Baosteel Zhanji­ They include ultraclean emissions tries, the official added. on Thursday. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

moting rural revitalization,” he said. “I have observed such changes.” City turns attention to lifting people out of poverty Currently, about 300 villagers, including some from neighboring vil­ lages,work in Chen’s factory,helping By TANG ZHIHAO to unveil an action plan to promote tourism facilities in Zurong village. to reduce the problem of left­behind [email protected] rural revitalization, is seeing big He has established a food process­ children. improvements in the rural environ­ ing factory, a handicraft museum, a Chen said he will help develop Zhanjiang in South China’s ment and quality of life. Some villa­ library, a hotel and a restaurant in the Leizhou into a handicraft making Guangdong province has made sig­ ges have even received recognition village. hub to promote the village’s tradition­ nificant progress in poverty elimina­ from national authorities. The museum displays Leizhou tra­ al culture. tion and rural revitalization, thanks Zurong village in the county­level ditional items such as Leizhou porce­ Chen is not the only person from to the continuous efforts of local city Leizhou of Zhanjiang, with lain, which has history dating back to the world of business that is devoted governments and the business com­ more than 300 years of history, was the Spring and Autumn period (770 – to Zhanjiang’s rural development. munity, who are leading residents named a national­level rural tourism 476 BC), Leizhou stone dogs, and Yang Song, chairman of construc­ toward a better quality of life. village. Leizhou­style wood carving. tion company GSD Group, who was As of the end of May, Zhanjiang’s The list was released by the Minis­ Chen said that Zurong village is a born in Yangchili village in county­ governments at all levels had try of Culture and Tourism and place that needed a strong founda­ level city Wuchuan, had invested invested 2.88 billion yuan ($425.27 National Development and Reform tion to develop its rural tourism. some 100 million yuan to build 35 million) toward lifting 218 villages Commission in early September. “It is too common among villages new villas in the village in 2017. out of poverty over the past few It is one of the top recognitions for in Guangdong. There is no famous The villas were provided to all 35 years. A total of 233,737 residents Zhanjiang’s efforts. In 2019, Techeng story, no well­known people, no families in the village for free in 2018. from 81,680 impoverished fami­ Island in Xiashan district of Zhan­ astonishing natural landscape, no Yang also built public facilities such lies have been lifted out of poverty, jiang appeared on the list. unique buildings and no rare resour­ as a cultural square, basketball court, accounting for 99.8 percent of the Villas built by entrepreneur Yang Song are made for local residents Apart from local governments’ ces,” he said. drainage systems in the village to poverty­stricken population in the in Yangchili village, Zhanjiang. CHAI HUA / CHINA DAILY efforts, such as upgrading infrastruc­ However, Chen didn’t hesitate in enhance living standards. city, according to the city govern­ ture, creating jobs and strengthening investing in Zurong village, where he The village, about 3 kilometers to ment. training, local business people have spent his childhood years. the new Zhanjiang airport, which is Zhanjiang held a media event around China visited sites including economic, cultural and poverty also contributed in supporting Zhan­ “Bringing villagers knowledge set to start operation in 2022, will from Sept 9 to15 to demonstrate the Fangpo village in Xuwen county, relief areas. jiang’s rural development. about the outside world, changing take the opportunity to develop air­ city’s achievements in building a Huguangyan Scenic Area, Chikan Chen Yu, president of Modocom, their mindset about life and letting port supporting services including moderately prosperous society in all Sanmin street and Techeng Island Rural development has invested about 100 million yuan them realize what they can achieve accommodation and catering, Yang respects. Nearly 200 reporters from to record the city’s achievements in The city, one of the first in China to construct industrial, cultural and are the most important things in pro­ said.

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