Since its establishment on Dec 16, 2009, Hengqin New Area has "shouldered the historical mission of promoting the diversified development of Macao industry and has become a Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao in-depth cooperation demonstration zone."

Yang Chuan, director of the Hengqin New Area Administrative Committee, made the statement at a Dec 16 press conference marking the 10th anniversary of the founding of the new area. Cooperation with Macao has also evolved from industrial synergy to social and livelihood integration, he added.

Notably, Yang said, 745 Macao enterprises registered in Hengqin this year alone, up 52.7 percent from the accumulated number over the previous nine years.

For a decade, Hengqin has made development space available for land-strapped Macao. So far, about 57 percent of Hengqin's 11.12-sq-km (4.29-sq-mile) transferable land area for business purposes has been provided to Macao enterprises, in addition to an 1.089-sq-km (269-acre) area for the University of Macao.

Press conference, Yang Chuan seated center at podium [Photo courtesy nanfangplus]

Projects such as Macao-Hengqin Youth Entrepreneurship Valley and Traditional Chinese Medicine Science & Technology Industrial Park of Cooperation Between Guangdong & Macao provide a welcomed harbor for these enterprises.

In the near future, Hengqin plans to earmark 1 sq km (247 acres) to accommodate Macao's international research institutes that integrate industry-university-research cooperation.

As of Dec 16, the number of Hengqin-registered Macao enterprises had grown from five to 2,157, with total investment reaching $18.83 billion. Most of the enterprises are engaged in rentals, commercial service, wholesale and retail, scientific research, and technical service.

In terms of livelihoods, the Macao New Neighborhood project is to provide 3,800 reasonably priced apartments for Macao people. Covering more than 180,000 sq m (44 acres), the neighborhood is being jointly developed by the Zhuhai and Macao SAR governments. It will give Macao citizens the livelihood facilities and public services they are used to.

Furthermore, Hengqin will seek central government support to allow Macao residents in the neighborhood to directly access Macao's education, medical services, and other social welfare benefits.

To date, Hengqin has put in a fix-asset investment of 286 billion yuan ($41 billion) to establish itself as a modernized area. A stereoscopic transport network including the Zhuhai Airport Urban Rail Transit and Hengqin and Second Hengqin bridges has taken shape, as have underground pipelines, water supply and drainage, green electricity, information, and centralized multi-connection energy networks.

Moreover, the Hengqin Free Trade Zone was established in April 2015. Since then, it has produced more than 420 institutional innovations, three of which were selected as Best Practices of National Pilot FTZs, 33 were chosen as Institutional Innovation Cases of Guangdong FTZs, 12 were promoted nationwide, and 56 were cited throughout Guangdong.