Regional growth sees improvements in local business environment and quality of life

The Weifang Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone in Shandong province recently ranked No 22 among 147 national-level development zones in terms of comprehensive development power in China in 2017, an improvement on its ranking of No 23 in 2015.

The ranking was announced by China's Ministry of Science and Technology.

"All Party members and staff members have actively taken on their respective responsibilities to support the zone's development," said Chu Baojie, Weifang's director of communications and chief of the zone's working committee.

The zone is taking measures to replace old economic development power with new growth drivers, which involves the government relocating residents in old shanty towns so as to provide more space for businesses. As a result, government staff members and Party members were required to take on more responsibilities in the upgrade and relocation process.

In the first half of 2017, a total of 7,681 families that lived in old shanty towns on 470 hectares of land were relocated to new buildings.

Hebeizhangzhuang community in Xincheng subdistrict was situated in a prime location. The zone launched six relocation programs in the community between 2005 and 2016. By the end of August 2016, there were 225 families living in the community. Sun Bo, head of Xincheng subdistrict, successfully persuaded all the remaining residents to move out in 253 days.

Officials and staff members in the zone were prohibited from enforcing relocation programs without residents' full understanding. The zone established a committee formed by residents from old communities to communicate with residents who did not agree to relocate. More than 10 relocation projects were completed with their support.

The development zone released evaluation methods to judge staff members' performance in key tasks since 2016. Those with outstanding performance in dealing with important matters became more likely to receive a promotion.

Business-friendly

The zone has taken a series of measures to enhance government services to support regional business growth.

Weichai Group, a leading heavy truck engines and components developer in China, invested 50 billion yuan ($7.63 billion) to build a new-energy power development industrial park in the zone, covering 333 hectares.

Shengrui Transmission, developer of the world's first front-engine, front-drive 8-gear auto transmission, won the National Science and Technology Progress Award in January 2017. The award is one of the top prizes launched by the State Council, China's Cabinet, in recognition of scientific contributions made by both groups and individuals.

Shengrui's plan to expand has been limited by a lack of free, unused land area.

In April 2017, the zone's government took about two weeks to reach relocation agreements with four companies to provide 5.9 hectares of land for Shengrui's industrial park project. The process normally takes more than three months.

"We have to take serving businesses as the most important thing in our work and spare no efforts to support their expansion plans," said Chen Jiacai, deputy chief of the zone's working committee, who was assigned to provide administrative services for Shengrui's expansion projects.

The park has attracted nine component suppliers, including Zhejiang Shuanghuan Driveline, one of the largest gear component producers in the world, and Shaanxi Aerospace Power Hi-tech.

Apart from helping locally developed companies to strengthen their market position, the zone also makes great efforts to attract more premium investment projects. The high-tech zone attracted 329 key projects involving 120 billion yuan in investment to the region in 2017. In the same period, construction work on 111 projects started.

Better living conditions

Residents' interests always come first in Weifang high-tech zone, said local officials. The zone has promoted 59 livelihood enhancement projects since 2016 with a total investment of 3.2 billion yuan.

The local government promised to provide quality residential properties, guarantee proper heat supply in winter, provide premium education services to children, provide good public cemetery services and build museums for residents to preserve local traditional culture and history.

The zone has built 26 schools and kindergartens and has recruited many foreign teachers to improve education quality over the past two years. It has also built many subdistrict and village-level museums and culture centers for residents to preserve their family tree documents and experiences.

More parks have been planned and built in the zone to enhance residents' living environment. The zone invited world-leading urban design companies to support its internationalization.

tangzhihao@chinadaily.com.cn

A technician at Shengrui Transmission assembles one of the company's front-engine, ilyfront-drive 8-gear auto transmissions.Photos Provided To China Daily

(China Daily 01/05/2018 page12)