Taizhou city investment projects surge in first five months

Taizhou city – located in East China's Jiangsu province – signed up 135 new  projects in the period January to May, each with an investment of 500 million yuan ($30 million) or more and with a total agreed investment of 160.61 billion yuan.

That represented year-on-year increases of 9.76 percent in project numbers and 79.47 percent in the value of investment, respectively.  

Some 123 were domestic projects with a total investment of 155.68 billion yuan, while a dozen were foreign-funded projects with a combined investment of $697 million.

Overall, large-scale projects are said to be favoring Taizhou. During the period, there were 51 projects each costing more than 1 billion yuan, for a combined total of 118.3 billion yuan.

Notable projects – with a total investment of tens of billions of dollars – included a smart manufacturing port, a coal storage and trading center, a specialty biopolymer materials facility and high-end engine-related projects.

Moreover, development zones in Taizhou have shown a strong capacity to accommodate the projects. In 19 key parks, 115 projects worth over 5 billion yuan were signed, with a total investment of 147.49 billion yuan.

The main industry ecosystem in Taizhou is seen as currently growing rapidly. In the first five months, 43 projects were signed in leading "1+4"  industries – referring to the health industry system, offshore equipment and high-tech ships, auto parts and precision manufacturing, chemicals and new materials, as well as photovoltaic and lithium-ion components and batteries – with a total investment of 50.25 billion yuan.

These achievements are said to be the result of concerted efforts at all levels in Taizhou, with numerous investment promotion activities held locally and abroad.

"We aim to both attract and quickly implement investment projects," said Geng Xiaoli, director of the Taizhou bureau of commerce.

As of end-May, six out of 23 projects signed at the Beijing industry matchmaking conference on May 6-7 had already made significant progress, demonstrating a 26 percent conversion rate from signing to implementation.