China unveiled a 12-year development plan for the southern Pearl River Delta designed to boost the economic and trade ties with the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions.
The 2008-20 plan released by the National Development and Reform Commission would position the pan-Pearl River Delta as a “center of advanced manufacturing and modern service industries,” and as a “center for international shipping, logistics, trade, conferences and exhibitions and tourism.”
Goals under the plan include the development of “two to three" of the Delta's nine major cities into centers of service outsourcing, “with a complete industry chain by 2012,” the commission said.
It also said the region expects to develop 10 multinational firms with annual sales of $20 billion by 2020 and two or three large automakers with output worth more than 100 billion yuan ($14.6 billion) each by that year.
Development also features major expansions of road, rail, seaport and airport capacities by 2020. It includes construction of an 18-mile bridge linking Hong Kong, Macao and the Delta, with construction expected to begin this year.
Plans also call for 1,864 miles of highways in the region by 2012, and rail expansions of 683 miles by 2012 and 1,367 miles by 2020.
The development commission said equipment manufacturing in the region will focus on five areas: nuclear power facilities, wind power equipment, power transmission and distribution facilities, machine tools and ocean engineering equipment.
“The delta region is intended to maintain its lead in terms of economic power within China. It will also expand into a Pan-Pearl-River-Delta area that will have a greater influence on the regional development of south China and become a more powerful ‘engine’ of the national economy,” the commission report said.
Journal of Commerce
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