CHONGQING, China, March 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Chongqing, located at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and often referred to as "China's Chicago" has attracted great attention during the annual sessions. The development of Chongqing Liangjiang New Area, the landmark of the inland's reform and opening-up, has also become public focus.
"Chongqing should optimize its investment environment and speed up the construction of an inland opening system led by the new area," said Sun Zhengcai, member of the Political Bureau of Eighteenth CPC Central Committee and secretary of Chongqing's Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Chongqing mayor Huang Qifan, in charge of constructing Shanghai Pudong Area in the past, praised the great beginning of Liangjiang New Area. Its GDP increased over 20%, doubling around 2 years, the fastest in West China.
Compared with the developmental stages of China's major new areas, such as Pudong New Area in Shanghai and Binhai New Area in Tianjin, Liangjiang New Area is stepping into a new upward stage for economic growth.
More specifically on the growth of investment, Liangjiang New Area has accomplished a fixed investment of 100 billion yuan over the past 2 years, while it respectively took 20 and 10 years for Pudong New Area and Binhai New Area to achieve that number.
As for the GDP growth, Liangjiang New Area is becoming the economic engine for Chongqing and Chinese inland areas after 2 and a half years' development. Whereas Pudong New Area and Binhai New Area witnessed an accelerated GDP growth in their 3rd and 4th year, the GDP growth rate of Pudong stood at 30% in the 4th year while Binhai's hovered at 20% in the 3rd year.
The monitored industrial enterprises accumulatively realized industrial output value of 33.772 billion yuan in January and February, 2013, up 38% year on year, according to the monitoring bulletin of 50 key industrial enterprises in Chongqing Liangjiang New Area.
Among those enterprises, the growth rate of foreign-invested ones hit 68.9% while Hong Kong/Macau and Taiwan-invested ones and enterprises running on a shareholding system respectively increased by 48.3% and 27%.
The remarkable results mentioned above reflect Liangjiang New Area's part in the opening of the inland economy, meaning together with the global and costal industrial transfer, western China has become a key region attracting transnational capital, investment from HK, Macau and Taiwan as well as domestic investment.
The new area is undergoing rapid development and is to enter a new stage of growth, with a high economic growth rate.
According to Tang Zongwei, deputy director of the administrative committee of the new area, the annual growth rates of GDP and industrial investment are expected to exceed 20 percent and 30 percent respectively in the following eight to ten years,
Liangjiang New Area is on its way to becoming a hot investment destination in central and western China.
