The groundbreaking ceremony of the nine major projects worth 1 billion yuan is held at Pingle Industrial Concentration Zone in Guilin on April 22. [Photo/haiwainet.cn]

With a total investment of nearly 1 billion yuan ($148 million), nine major projects involving tourism, new materials, medical apparatuses, food processing, and energy began construction in Pingle Industrial Concentration Zone in Guilin on April 22.

They included a life science park, a 220-kilovolt external power supply project invested by Guilin Pinggang Iron & Steel, a new materials project by Dong Bao Lian, and a food project by Kang Zhi Yuan.

Once they begin operation, these projects are expected to generate over 3.5 billion yuan in annual output value and 200 million yuan in annual tax revenue, while offering 2,000 jobs to local residents.

Construction trucks hard at work on the site. [Photo/haiwainet.cn]

The industrial concentration zone in Ertang town, Pingle county, has a planned area of 20 square kilometers and will encompass nine industrial parks dedicated to migrant worker entrepreneurship, agricultural product deep processing, new materials, e-commerce logistics headquarters, and more. To date, 60 enterprises have been slated for settlement, of which 38 are in construction.

In recent years, Pingle has increasingly become an investment magnet leveraging its advantageous location and preferential policies. The nine projects are set to inject a new impetus to the local industrial economy, said Yang Linkui, deputy head of the county.