City to play 'pivotal' role in region's growth

By Xiao Li (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-10 08:40

The State Council's decision to designate the development plan for the coastal area of Liaoning as a State-level strategy is set to have a profound impact on the economic development of Northeast Asia, a high ranking official in Dalian said.

Dai Yulin, vice-mayor of the city, said the approval of the plan means a "historical opportunity" for the coastal city, which boasts the best port resources in the region.

The plan is a major coup for Liaoning, one of the three old industrial centers in northeast China.

The State Council is now putting huge emphasis on the importance of the re-development of the region, once the home to China's heavy industry.

Northeast China was the cradle of the country's heavy industry in the early days of the founding of New China. It was the engine of the country's economy at that time and contributed enormously to the current industrial landscape of the whole country.

However, the region gradually fell behind and much of its machinery became obsolete as the country began to embrace the market oriented economy during the opening-up and reforms of the late 1970s.

The change from a planned economy to a market economy proved to be a painful process. A huge number of workers were laid off as a result of reshuffles in the State-owned enterprises. As a result, the whole of the region lags far behind the coastal area of east China.

In October 2003, the State Council announced a decision to revitalize the old industrial bases in northeast China, granting considerable monetary and legislative support for the region.

"The plan to boost the development of the coastal area of Liaoning shows the State Council's confidence to inject more energy into the region," Dai said.

Dalian, itself, accounts for nearly half of the planned area of the economic belt, which shows its importance, he said. As part of the proposal, the city will become a center for shipping, logistics and finance in Northeast Asia.

The Liaoning coastal economic belt consists of 28 key economic areas. Nearly half of them are located in Dalian, covering 54 percent of the province's land area. It is hoped that the coastal economic belt development strategy will help attract more foreign and domestic investments to a number of areas, including the Dalian Changxingdao Harbor Industrial Area and the Dalian Economy and Technology Area.

This city has already taken major steps to develop its financial, tourism and computer software sectors. The new strategy gives the city an added impetus for economic and technological cooperation with countries in northeastern Asia, especially Japan and South Korea.

"We hope it will be an opportunity to make the coastal economic belt the fourth economic hotspot, after the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta and the Bei-jing-Tianjin-Hebei area," Dai said.

Echoing Dai's emphasis on the importance of Dalian to the plan, Li Wancai, acting mayor of the city, said: " "It is not only the core city, but also the pivot linking the other cities in the plan."