Leaders plan to invest $5.38b to fuel biz growth

Liuzhou plans to attract a series of major business projects this year to boost its economic development.

A total of 125 projects will be introduced to the city, covering such major areas as high-tech industries, commerce and trade circulation, infrastructure and real estate, tourism, culture and sports, agricultural development and agricultural products processing.

The total investment is expected to reach 35 billion yuan ($5.35 billion), according to the city's investment and business promotion authorities.

A key project is the Pingan finance e-commerce logistics project with investment of 750 million yuan.

With a total construction area of 120,000 square meters, the project will build high standard e-commerce business logistics warehousing facilities.

Based on Liuzhou e-commerce and online to offline commerce, the project plans to build a new e-commerce financial industry park, which includes a brand e-commerce service network, small enterprise incubator services, comprehensive finance supporting service and the functions of information services, logistics and fund support.

From January to November 2015, the city introduced 71 billion yuan investment from other areas in the country, an increase of 15.25 percent year-on-year.

Two hundred and twenty five contracts were signed with domestic investors, with a total cooperation volume of 53.5 billion yuan.

With the country's economy slowing in recent years, the city is also studying new investment trends and directions, and exploring more effective ways to attract investment.

The city plans to accelerate the development of its auto industry by strengthening the development of new-energy vehicles, middle - and high-end vehicles and improving its industry chain.

It plans to focus on the introduction of integrated circuits in the auto industry, industrial robots and 3-D printing in high-end manufacturing.

In addition to revitalizing the mechanical and metallurgical industry sectors, the city also plans to develop emerging pillar industries, such as electronic information, high-end equipment manufacturing and e-commerce.

Besides that, the city will also speed up the development pace in the industry sectors of cultural tourism, modern agriculture, trade and logistics, new materials and new energy.

According to the city, an agricultural products wholesale market project will be introduced this year.

With 1.5 billion yuan of investment, the Xinliuyong agricultural products wholesale market is designed to cover 750,000 square meters, and include a fruit and vegetable trade area, dried and nonstaple food trade area, aquatic products trade area, food processing and distribution area, information center, administrative office center, and customer service center.

(China Daily 05/27/2016 page23)