any way you cut it, 1.6 trillion yuan, equivalent to about us$254 billion, is a lot of money. that is the amount shenzhen is about to invest in an ambitious plan to develop its eastern areas.
called the "going east strategy," the plan aims to refashion the eastern part of the city, which is economically weaker than other parts of the city, into a new growth point for the shenzhen economy, according to an action plan released after a city leadership meeting earlier this month. the city is suffering a bottleneck in development partly due to a shortage of space.
the eastern part comprises luohu, yantian and longgang districts, and pingshan and dapeng new areas. they have up to half of shenzhen’s land area, but house one-third of the city's total population and contribute one-third to the city's total gdp.
the strategy is an important decision by the city government to implement china's one belt and one road initiative and enhance pearl river delta cities' cooperation, according to the plan.
the investment will go to 355 projects covering traffic infrastructure, industrial upgrades, public services and urban development. by 2020, 567.2 billion yuan is expected to be invested.
an over-560-kilometer traffic network containing 10 new expressways, six railways and 14 metro lines will emerge by 2020, by which users will be able to reach the city's downtown areas in 30 minutes, and every part of shenzhen and downtown areas of dongguan, heyuan and shanwei cities in 60 minutes, the plan says.
specifying innovation and tourism as highlights of the east, the plan also positions the roles of each area. luohu district will continue to play a leading role in finance and trade while longgang district and pingshan new area are designated as targeting innovative intelligent manufacturing. yantian district and dapeng new area, which are rich in natural resources, will focus on the marine industry.
to build an international golden coast tourism belt along the eastern city, the government will make full use of wutong mountain, daya bay and dapeng bay as well.
by 2020, the eastern part will be home to two or three clusters of it and new-energy industries with a yearly output value of 100 billion yuan each, and four to five 50-billion-yuan industrial clusters of intelligent equipment makers, life and health companies, and port logistics companies, according to the plan.
upgrades to industrial structures will free 20 square kilometers of land for development, it says.
in public services, 40,000 college seats, 7,000 high school seats and 10,000 hospital beds will be added in the eastern areas. local governments will lure 300,000 talents to the areas.
under the strategic development plan for pan-pearl river delta cities unveiled in 2014, shenzhen, dongguan, huizhou, heyuan and shanwei will form a metropolis circle, occupying 37,179 square kilometers, or 20.7 percent of guangdong's total. last year, the circle contributed 39 percent to guangdong's gdp. shenzhen's eastern part, huizhou, heyuan and shanwei contributed 36 percent to the circle's total.
