12 | Friday, October 23, 2020 HONG KONG EDITION | DAILY Upgrading on both sides of the water

Fujian province city unites its six districts in push to achieve integrated development

By YUAN SHENGGAO

Xiamen, an island city in East Chi­ 397.84 na’s province, is ramping up sq km efforts to promote its overall city of area in Xiamen that has been construction by accelerating coordi­ urbanized as of 2019, from 94 nated development. sq km in 2002 In 2002, Xiamen rolled out its urban development blueprint, account for more than 55 percent of focusing on cross­island develop­ the city’s total. ment by integrating the main island The proportion of fixed invest­ and its four districts Jimei, Haicang, ment and industrial added value will Tong’an and Xiang’an in the city’s surpass 80 percent. mainland. To date, its four districts acting as After 18 years of development, the city subcenters on the mainland city has seen great progress in its have become new growth points of integrated development of urbaniza­ Xiamen’s economic development. tion, industrial structure, public ser­ The development of new urban vice and ecological construction. areas has helped to enhance Xia­ Official data show Xiamen has men’s functions and competitiveness expanded its urban areas from 94 as a city, laying a solid foundation for square kilometers in 2002 to 397.84 it to become more modern and inter­ Jimei in Xiamen is connected to the rest of the city via numerous bridges. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY sq km in 2019. The ratio of people liv­ national, local officials said. ing in the urban area has increased In the past year, Xiamen has from 52 percent to 89.2 percent. attracted 3,199 commercial projects, comed eight biomedical projects. ical insurance, education and pub­ During the same period, its region­ with a total investment estimated at Xiang’an district is now home to lic infrastructure. al GDP jumped from 64.8 billion 1.4 trillion yuan, official data show. headquarters of companies. It is Compulsory education gradu­ yuan ($9.71 billion) to 599.5 billion In the first half of 2020, Xiamen’s building five significant projects ates in mainland areas have sur­ yuan, with 47.6 percent contributed GDP bucked the trend in that period, including two subway lines and an passed those in the main island, by the four mainland districts. increasing by 0.6 percent year­on­ airport. accounting for 57.1 percent of the In May, the city government held a year. Apart from the mainland dis­ city’s total. The number of large conference on further promoting Compared with the whole prov­ tricts, the city has also made strides and medium­sized public facilities development of the city as a special ince, the actual use of foreign capital in upgrading its main island. in mainland areas has also topped economic zone. and per capita disposable income of The central downtown area of the main island since 2017, By 2022, the city is expected to rural residents rank top. has introduced a accounting for nearly 50 percent of achieve its GDP per sq km to 2.55 bil­ Hu Changsheng, Party secretary of batch of high­tech companies and the city’s total, according to local lion yuan, ranking top in the prov­ Xiamen, said the city will continue to has targeted development through officials. ince, it was announced at the improve business environment in technologies including 5G, block­ With the city’s cross­island conference. line with advanced standards at chain and artificial intelligence. development, more people are Xiamen will build its urban areas home and abroad. Xiamen’s integrated develop­ choosing to work and live in the into centers for innovation and It will also inject impetus for com­ ment can also be seen in its social mainland districts, local officials finance so as to become models for pany development and foster the welfare and public services. said. other cities in the country. momentum of high­quality develop­ The city has integrated many of In 2018, the population in the In addition, the GDP of its four ment, Hu said. its services for residents in both main island has declined to 49.8 Wuyuan Bay in Xiamen’s on the main island is home to mainland districts is expected to In June, has wel­ urban and rural areas such as med­ percent of the city’s total. a group of international companies. From open countryside to modern industrial hub

By YUAN SHENGGAO Swiss industrial conglomerate ABB Group put its manufacturing With constant efforts in cross­is­ base into operation last year in the land development, Xiamen of East Torch Industrial Park in Xiang’an China’s Fujian province has seen its district. districts developed from open coun­ In 1992, ABB was the first Fortune tryside to industrial clusters. 500 company to register a subsidi­ In 1980, Xiamen was one of the ary in Xiamen. It has since expand­ earliest special economic zones ed to eight subsidiaries in the city established in China. The city and set up an electrical research and began its economic zone develop­ development center in Xiang’an dis­ The Dongdu port area in Xiamen Port bustles with activity. ment in Huli district. trict. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Chen Shantong, who worked on Zhao Yongzhan, senior vice­presi­ the project in the early days, said at dent of ABB China, said the compa­ that time the local government had ny’s industrial center in Xiamen focused its efforts on building fac­ serves the Chinese market and more 40 years of success as tories in Huli district. than 60 countries and regions People believed that the con­ worldwide. struction of an SEZ should be done Staff members work on the production line of Linde (China) Forklift “We are a beneficiary of Xiamen’s special economic zone at speed with high quality, Chen Truck in Xiamen. CHEN LIJIE / FOR CHINA DAILY cross­island development,” Zhao said. said. With such a construction plan, Official data show that Xiamen By YUAN SHENGGAO airport in Xiang’an district. These Xiamen has seen rapid develop­ Xiamen Natural Resources and expand the city’s transport network has built eight industrial chains, moves aim to establish a three­di­ ment as an SEZ. Planning Bureau. as well as other key infrastructure including semiconductors and From a seaside town to a pros­ mensional urban space. In 2010, Xiamen’s SEZ area had “Xiamen is transforming from an projects. integrated circuits, computer and perous metropolis, Xiamen in East Official data show that Xia­ expanded from the main island to island city to a port city … and is see­ Expanding Xiamen’s develop­ communication equipment and China’s Fujian province has seen men’s urbanized areas have its four districts off the island ing bigger room for development,” ment from its main island to the flat panel displays, with a total out­ tremendous development over the expanded from 13.8 square kilo­ parts. Chen said. mainland demonstrated the local put value of 100 billion yuan ($15 past 40 years as a special economic meters in 1980 to 397.84 sq km in According to the city’s latest The development of transporta­ government’s resolve to develop the billion). zone. 2019. Its annual completed urban plan, its mainland districts tion has changed the way people whole city as an economic zone, The city is constructing another Designated as an SEZ in 1980, investment of key projects have become new hubs for indus­ work and live in the city. Zhang said. four such industrial chains. This Xiamen has continually come up increased from 3.98 billion yuan tries including aviation, education Zhang Zehua, a manager from a “The enlarged city layout of Xia­ will include high­tech companies with a series of innovative city ($595.74 million) in 2000 to 143 and high technology. technology company in Xiamen, men and its increasing influence at each with annual revenue of more development plans. billion yuan in 2019. Completed “Through cross­island develop­ said he was motivated to move his home and abroad benefit us a lot,” than 20 million yuan. These com­ In 2002, the city issued its annual investment exceeded 100 ment, the city has expanded its startup business to the city’s main­ he added. panies are expected to account for cross­island development strate­ billion yuan for five consecutive functions and relieved its popula­ land five years ago. The cross­island development has more than 70 percent of the total gy for 2004–20, promoting the years. tion stress to its off­island part,” He made the decision on the back helped the city attract more compa­ industrial output value in Xiamen, transformation of Xiamen from Xiamen has seen rapid devel­ said Chen Yong, deputy head of of the local government’s plan to nies from across the world. according to local officials. an island city to a bay city. opment in its transportation net­ According to the strategy, local work, and the annual container government planned to integrate throughput of Xiamen Port has the development of its six admin­ surpassed 11 million, ranking Projects on track for cross­island development istrative districts on the main 14th in the world. island and mainland. In 2019, the passenger Over the past decades, the city throughput at Xiamen Gaoqi By YUAN SHENGGAO projects this year, local officials said. has completed a series of infra­ International Airport exceeded is currently working structure projects that has pro­ 27 million, and flights extended As cross­island development on 171 projects with total invest­ moted its cross­island to Asia, Europe, North America accelerates, Xiamen is seeing great ment expected to reach 32.86 billion development. and Oceania. progress in construction projects on yuan. It has built five cross­sea traffic Xiamen’s comprehensive trans­ its main island and four off­island Haicang district is developing an networks, including Haicang portation network significantly districts. integrated circuit industry base Bridge, Asia’s first steel box girder helps drive the city’s socioeconomic In the off­island district of with total investment surpassing 30 continuous floating suspension development, local officials said. Xiang’an, 17 industrial construction billion yuan. In the first half of 2020, bridge with three spans; the In addition to investment and projects are underway with a total Tong’an district started work on 23 Xiang’an Tunnel, the first subsea infrastructure construction, the city investment of 47.5 billion yuan major projects. tunnel in the Chinese mainland, has also spared no effort in boosting ($7.14 billion). During the same period, Xiang’an as well as the first sea­view metro housing construction. Among them is a new sports and district has planned or is currently line in China. In 1980, the per capita housing exhibition center, which once com­ working on 318 projects with a total In addition, the city has built area in Xiamen was only 6.95 square plete will connect with the sports investment of 106.38 billion yuan. industrial parks and free trade meters; the figure increased to 30.32 center in Siming district on Xia­ It has completed 83.33 percent of zones in its off­island areas sq m in 2019, official statistics show. men’s main island. the annual actual utilization of for­ including Haicang, Jimei, This year, Xiamen will complete Centering on integrated develop­ eign capital, ranking first in the city. Tong’an and Xiang’an, as part of the construction of 100,000 afforda­ ment, the city has increased efforts The is a crucial channel linking Xiamen’s main Yu Weiguo, Party secretary of the effort to enlarge its urban ble housing apartments in the aim in upgrading its layout on the main island and off­island parts. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Fujian, said cross­island develop­ capacity and comprehensive to create more livable communities. island and building more infra­ ment helps expand Xiamen’s scope competitiveness. According to the city plan, Xia­ structure in its off­island districts. Bridge built in 1991. It is the larg­ of the city’s cross­island develop­ for development. In 2016, the city upgraded its men will further promote cross­is­ In August, the city announced six est­ever reinforcement project ment plan, the bureau said. In the next three­to­five years, city layout planning, integrating land development during the 14th transportation projects with a total for a cross­sea bridge in the coun­ By 2022, Xiamen is expected to Xiamen will ramp up efforts to the construction of subcenters in Five­Year Plan (2021­25) period, investment of 890 million yuan. try. complete construction on two cross­ achieve high­quality development its four districts, focusing on aiming to improve the city’s core According to the Xiamen trans­ This bridge and other cross­is­ island channels — the Haicang Tun­ in all­around aspects, and further building six new towns in areas competitiveness and to develop it portation bureau, these projects land bridges including Haicang, nel and Xiang’an Bridge. promote cross­island development, including Maluan Bay, Haicang into an international metropolis by incorporate the reinforcement Jimei and Xinglin as well as the Districts in the city’s off­island parts according to the city government’s Bay and Jimei district, and a new 2025. and reconstruction of Xiamen Xiang’an Tunnel are crucial parts are speeding up constructing their plan.

This page is sponsored by the Xiamen city government.