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DDA revs up for role as a Liaoning economic engine

By Qiu Yinuo (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-10 08:51

The Culture Square of the Dalian Development Area, a key economic center in the coastal city.

FAW-Volkswagen's engine manufacturing plant in DDA represents a total investment of 3 billion yuan and is now considered to be one of the leading auto parts enterprises in Dalian.

The opto-electronic industry in the area, represented by companies such as Dalian Lumei, is expected to have an annual output value of more than 100 billion yuan in two to three years.

With several petrochemical enterprises, including the Yisheng Dahua Petrochemical Co Ltd, becoming operational, the sector's value is projected to reach 60 billion yuan in DDA this year.

The Dalian Development Area (DDA), one of the first State-level economic and technological development zones approved by the State Council, is now at the forefront of economic development in northeast China's Liaoning province.

Zhang Shikun, director of the administrative committee of the Dalian Development Area, said: "Over the past 25 years, the development area has demonstrated robust economic development, becoming one of the most important growth engines in Liaoning."

Rapid growth

The DDA, which was established in 1984, covers six streets and two townships, with an area of 405 sq km and a population of 650,000 people.

According to Zhang, the DDA has achieved an annual GDP growth rate of 41 percent over recent years. Its industrial output value has also grown by of 50 percent, with its accumulated value exceeding 1 trillion yuan over the past 25 years.

By 2008, total foreign investment in the area over the 25 years period had reached $9.2 billion, increasing, on average, by 42 percent per annum. Its accumulative export value totaled $50.8 billion, a rise of 47 percent year-on-year.

Last year alone, the development area's gross domestic product (GDP) was 83.3 billion yuan, up 18.5 percent over the previous year. Its foreign trade amounted to $18.2 billion in 2008, an increase of 22 percent from a year ago.

As of last year, more than 3,000 foreign investment projects, funded by businesses from 47 countries and regions, are operating in the development area. Some 70 of these projects have been backed by the world's top 500 corporations, including Intel and Borgwarner. Among these investments are 33 major projects, each of which represents an investment of more than $100 million.

Thanks to unprecedented levels of domestic and overseas investment over recent years, Zhang said, the DDA has now established an industrial cluster, focusing on the petrochemicals, electronic information, auto making and auto parts, shipbuilding, biochemical, optoelectronics and tourism industries.

The DDA has also become one of the nation's leading centers for semiconductors, lighting, electronic components, information and biochemicals. In total, it has some 235 hi-tech projects, contributing around 57.5 percent of the value of the development area's total industrial output.

"With the endorsement of the Liaoning coastal economic zone development blueprint by the central government in July this year, the DDA is now expected to become the core economic growth engine in the region." Zhang said, adding that "It will boost Liaoning's competitiveness in the Northeast Asia market and accelerate its program of revitalizing the traditional industries across northeast China

Highlighting the zone's current success, Zhang said: "During the economic downturn, the DDA's GDP growth rate has been higher than the average in Dalian."

According to Zhang, an expanded development area is expected to contribute one third of Dalian's economic growth within the next three to five years. Work on 38 large investment projects began in the first half of this year and with 82 more expected to follow in the next six months.

Industrial clusters

Zhang said the DDA will focus on developing three industrial clusters over the next three years, with each aiming to generate 100 billion yuan of industrial output.

In the petrochemical sector, the DDA already has 38 large-scale enterprises, which jointly achieved an industrial output of 44.3 billion yuan last year. With a projected output value of 60 billion yuan this year, the petrochemical industry is expected to grow still further and deliver a turnover of 100 billion yuan by 2011.

In another development, the area has more than 300 enterprises engaged in equipment manufacturing, auto making and auto parts and shipbuilding. The industries in these sectors are expected to have a combined output value of 70 billion yuan this year and of 100 billion yuan by 2010.

In the electronic information arena the DDA is home to 86 large-scale enterprises, which delivered 30 billion yuan in turnover terms last year. This sector is expected to grow to be worth more than 100 billion yuan by 2012.

In terms of new developments, the DDA will nurture the growth of an LED industrial cluster with a target annual output value of 30 billion yuan and a biochemical industrial cluster with an initial target of 10 billion yuan.