CENTRAL POLICY UNIT HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION CONSULTANCY STUDY ON SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE PAN-PEARL RIVER DELTA (PRD) REGION THE FIFTH MONTHLY REPORT COVERING GUANGXI, YUNNAN, GUIZHOU, SICHUAN October 2006 Social, Economic and Political Developments in the Pan-PRD Region Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan (5th Report / October) CONTENT Page EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................... 1 1 Railway Construction and Planning in the Four Southwestern Provinces / Region ........................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Sichuan Province .............................................................................................. 6 1.1.1 Investment in projects worth RMB Tens of Billions......................... 6 1.1.2 Key Projects: Construction of a Large-Capacity Transport Passage and a High-Speed Passenger Passage ................................................ 7 1.1.3 Chengdu is Selected as a Part of High-Speed Railway Circle........... 8 1.2 Guizhou Province............................................................................................ 11 1.2.1 Visionary Planning........................................................................... 11 1.2.2 Ongoing Project: Reconstruction of Guizhou—Guangxi Railway for Expanded Capacity .......................................................................... 11 1.3 Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region ........................................................... 14 1.3.1 Planned Projects worth RMB 40 Billion Underway........................ 14 1.3.2 Specific Projects............................................................................... 16 1.3.3 11th Five-Year Plan Goals................................................................ 17 1.3.4 Express Railway as the Focus of Transportation Construction ....... 18 1.4 Yunnan Province............................................................................................. 20 1.4.1 Ongoing Projects.............................................................................. 20 1.4.2 Railway Construction Goals within 10—15 Years.......................... 22 1.4.3 A Conception of Constructing International Railway Passages and Railway Passages into Yunnan ........................................................ 23 1.4.4 The Visionary Qinghai—Tibet Railway: Constructing Yunnan— Tibet Railway................................................................................... 27 1.5 Implications for Hong Kong ........................................................................... 28 1.5.1 A New Outlook of Railway Construction in the Southwestern Region.............................................................................................. 28 i Social, Economic and Political Developments in the Pan-PRD Region Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan (5th Report / October) 1.5.2 Implications for Hong Kong ............................................................ 29 2 Trends and Updates on the Four Provinces/Region................................. 34 2.1 Economic Performance of the Four Provinces/Region................................... 34 2.2 Trends and Updates on Sichuan Province ...................................................... 37 2.2.1 Economic Performance of Sichuan Province .................................. 37 2.2.2 The Main Focus of Sichuan Province - Sichuan Experienced the Severest Drought in 60 Years .......................................................... 38 2.3 Trends and Updates on Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region ..................... 43 2.3.1 Economic Performance of Guangxi................................................. 43 2.3.2 The Main Focus of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region - The Industrialization and Urbanization Policy Pursued by Guangxi’s New Party Secretary ........................................................................ 45 2.4 The Main Focus of Yunnan - The Production of Natural Rubber in Yunnan 48 2.5 The Main Focus of Guizhou – Plan for Medium and Long-Term Scientific and Technological Development in the Guizhou Province ................................... 61 3 Regional Cooperation ................................................................................. 65 Appendix：........................................................................................................... 81 Appendix I：Statistical Data for the Pan-PRD Provinces/ Region........................... 81 Appendix II：English-Chinese Glossary of Terms................................................... 84 ii Social, Economic and Political Developments in the Pan-PRD Region Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan (5th Report / October) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 Railway Construction and Planning in the Four Southwestern Provinces At the beginning of 2006, the Ministry of Railways and the southwestern provinces/municipality/region finalised a new plan for the development of railways in the region. The southwestern railways will expand by 47% and the railway density will increase from 69.7 km per 10,000 sq. km to 102.5 km per 10,000 sq. km. 1.1 Sichuan Province - The development guideline priorities for Sichuan railways are “to connect the east, the southwest and then expand into northwest China”. At present, the main railway line connects Chengdu (成都), Wuhan (武漢) and Shanghai, and is characterised by heavy passenger use and cargo flows. Another priority is the construction of a double-track line that links Chengdu, Kunming (昆明) and Chongqing; and the construction of an inter-city passenger express railway that links Mianyang ( 綿陽), Chengdu and Emei ( 峨眉). This passenger expressway will link up the seven biggest cities in the province, and will comprehensively expand the transport capacity of the “Chengdu- Deyang (德陽)-Mianyang” economic circle. Chengdu was selected by the Ministry of Railways as one of the six railway centres in China, and is the only southwestern city on the list. 1.2 Guizhou Province - During the period of the 11th Five-Year Plan, Guizhou will begin constructing the Longchang (隆昌)-Huangtong (黃 桶) railway, the Guiyang railway convergence hub, and the Guiyang (貴 陽)-Zhuhai (珠海) railway. Railway planning in Guizhou is focused on expanding the capacity of the Guizhou-Guangxi line. This will be an important export route for Guizhou resources, and will link the southwestern region to the sea; thus the southwestern resource-based economy will be connected to the export-oriented industries in South China. 1 Social, Economic and Political Developments in the Pan-PRD Region Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan (5th Report / October) 1.3 Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region - Guangxi has put forth a “one package” comprehensive railway development plan which includes the construction of two new railway lines, the reconstruction of five old lines and two large convergence hubs. Together the newly constructed and reconstructed lines have a total mileage of 2,800 km which exceeds the existing railway network. This plan will help Guangxi achieve the strategic objectives of building “export routes to the coastal ports from the southwestern region” and “international channels linking ASEAN”. 1.4 Yunnan Province - The objectives of railway construction in Yunnan includes the construction of a Pan-Asian international railway connecting East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia (also referred to as the “Three Asia’s”) and the construction of a railway connecting the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean (the “Two Oceans”). Further plans include existing line upgrades aimed at providing a higher speed route with larger transport capacity going out of the province, and the construction of a railway between Yunnan and Tibet. This project will finally open up a southwestern route to Tibet that will link the Yunnan- Vietnam railway and the Kunming-Bangkok (曼谷) highway, thereby forming a highway-railway-airway transport network radiating from Yunnan to the entire southwestern region. Kunming will also get an inter-city express railway joining other cities in the province. 1.5 The Four Southwestern Provinces/Region will have a high-density railway network. This will strengthen interregional communication and connections with Central China, making it possible to reduce the transport time and costs for accessing ports in the Beibu Gulf (Gulf of Tonkin) or neighbouring countries across land. Chengdu, Nanning (南 寧) and Kunming will become railway convergence hubs and central cities in the region. This will reduce the need to connect to the Pearl River Delta (PRD) railway network. 2 Trends and Updates on the Four Provinces 2.1 Sichuan Province 2 Social, Economic and Political Developments in the Pan-PRD Region Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan (5th Report / October) This summer, Sichuan suffered from a serious drought which resulted in economic losses of RMB10 billion. Difficulties caused by the drought included a shortage of drinking water and an interruption to electricity and water supplies. It affected the daily operations of the intensive energy consuming industries and impacted on the livelihoods of the citizens. 2.2 Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Since the new party chief, Mr Liu Qibao ( 劉奇葆), became the Secretary of the region three months ago, he has repeatedly expressed his thoughts on the development of Guangxi. His focus has been on the ‘M’ strategy, industrialisation and urbanisation. It emphasises the cultivation of superior industries and competitive corporations, together