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The Yellow Sea Second Bridge is expected to significantly contribute to the local Yangkou Port's leapfrog development, after it starts operating next year. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

Rudong county – administered by Nantong city in East China's Jiangsu province – put in a particularly robust performance in terms of its economic development in the first quarter of 2022.

The Q1 import-export volume was worth 14.93 billion yuan ($2.2 billion), surging 52.9 percent year-on-year and ranking it first among Nantong's regions. The foreign investment in actual use hit $152.64 million during the period.

The achievements were the results of measures Rudong took to ensure its businesses had a sufficient supply of enterprises' raw production materials and that it moved smartly to resolve any hardships and difficulties they faced in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.

One example of the commitment being shown by the county's people in this regard is Chen Ye, head of the industrial operations division of the economic development bureau in the Rudong Coastal Economic Development Zone. Since a supply guarantee campaign began in March, he has worked on the front line there for over 50 days.

"The site I take charge of is responsible for receiving trucks from regions other than Shanghai," Chen said. "Laying equal emphasis on epidemic prevention and control and ensuring smooth supply channels, we have received nearly 30,000 trucks safely."

On Yangguang Island which is located in the Yangkou Port Economic Development Zone, a liquefied natural gas or LNG storage facility is under intensive construction. To ensure it is completed and starts operating on schedule, the port organized a special team to help solve any problems in the construction process.

"When the epidemic hit and the raw materials supply on the construction site was about to run  short, the Yangkou Port special service team opened water and land transport channels for us," said the person in charge of the project.

"A total of 127,787 metric tons of building materials like rolled steel and cement were shipped, helping us to realize non-stop construction."

In addition to ensuring the adequate supply of raw materials, Rudong county also took measures to satisfy the demand of enterprises for working funds.