Xuchang's ambition to shape itself into one of China's most vigorous cities is moving along well, said the city's mayor Li Ya.

Li, when presenting the government work report at the opening of the first session of the fifth municipal People's Congress on January 10, 2007, said: "Xuchang's economy maintains steady and rapid development, with the city's overall strength increased."

Significant progress has been made in the city's reform, breakthroughs have been achieved in its opening-up, social development has been accelerated, and people's life has been improved.

The city's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2006 reached around 72 billion yuan, an annual average increase of 12.7 percent since 2000.

Government revenues rose to 2.55 billion yuan, an average annual increase of 22.6 percent during the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-05).

Retail sales of consumer goods totalled 16.9 billion yuan during the 10th Five-Year Plan period.

The volume of exports totalled US$560 million, an increase of 35 percent compared with 2005.

This performance pushed Xuchang into third place among cities in Henan Province this year in terms of overall strength.

Per capita income in urban areas was 9,010 yuan and per capita net income in rural areas was 4,188 yuan, maintaining an average annual increase of 12.6 percent and 9 percent respectively since 2000.

"All these show that Xuchang has taken another solid step forward on the road of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects," said the mayor.

Advantageous location

Located in Henan, a province in Central China, Xuchang has an area of 4,996 square kilometers and a population of 4.5 million.

It now commands jurisdiction over three counties, two county-level cities and one district.

It has two industrial development zones, of which the western industrial zone and Henan Weidu are famous in Henan.

Xuchang features a favorable geographic location - only 80 kilometers from Zhengzhou, the provincial capital of Henan, and 50 kilometers from Xinzheng International Airport.

It is a transportation hub on the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, Beijing-Zhuhai Highway, Lianyungang-Xinjiang Highway, Kaifeng-Nanyang Highway and Luoyang-Jieshou Highway, making it an easy-to-access city in Central China.

Public facilities

Since 2000, the municipal government has invested some 10 billion yuan to beautify the city and improve its environment, construct green belts and pedestrian lanes, leading to a significant change of the city's landscape.

It has constructed new districts, offering economical and comfortable housing.

In the past five years, Xuchang has spread out rapidly in all directions. And the city has set up a modern traffic network, accelerating construction of traffic facilities, widening main streets in downtown areas, constructing new city highways and completing construction of the ring roads.

Xuchang is sparing no effort to improve its environment. It will further improve energy structure by using environment-friendly resources, moving industrial businesses out the downtown areas, realizing centralized water and heat supply in the downtown area.

And it has set up advanced environmental protection facilities, including several waste disposal plants and five purifying factories with a total annual treatment capacity of 80 million tons.

It was designated as a National Environment-friendly and Excellent Tourism City in 2003 and 2005.

Industry and agriculture

The quality of economic growth in Xuchang in previous years experienced a substantial improvement, said Mao Wanchun, Party secretary of Xuchang.

With two provincial-level development zones, it offers a wide range of options for investors from various industries, Mao said.

The two zones' major industries include information technology, mechanic-electronics, wig-making, biological pharmaceuticals and new materials.

According to the municipal statistics bureau, the city's fixed-asset investment amounted to 29.5 billion yuan (US$718.8 million) in 2006, four times the figure in 2000.

Xuchang is rich in agricultural resources, including wheat, corn and plant, traditional Chinese medicine, tobacco and cotton.

Four counties under the governance of Xuchang are national grain bases, and three are pig-exporting bases.

Xuchang has one leading Chinese agricultural enterprise. The National Comprehensive Agricultural Science and Technology Park in the city is recognized as a model for the transformation from traditional to modern agriculture.

Meanwhile, the city will spare no efforts to promote the development of its textile and garment industry, which has become its pillar industry, and gear up efforts to develop equipment manufacturing, medicine and the electronics industry for an optimized economic structure.

Indeed, the city is very attractive to foreigners, not only because of its beautiful landscape, friendly natural environment and unique hospitality, but also because of the huge business opportunities it offers.

"Xuchang will make investment promotion a top priority with the aim of accelerating the city's development during the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-10)," said Mao.

The city hopes to attract more investment to the key fields of manufacturing, ecological agriculture and tourism.

"We must make great efforts to cultivate a batch of key enterprises with advanced technology and strong competitiveness," Mao said.

He stressed that the city would not introduce any projects with high consumption of natural resources and pollution, which would hinder the city's sustainable development.

"We should make more efforts to extend our industry chain, upgrade technology and reduce pollution and consumption of natural resources," Li said, "The city must transform the production-oriented economic growth mode into a resource-economical one."

Preferential policies

Xuchang has drafted a series of preferential polices to attract investors from home and abroad to promote its economic development.

The government offers one-step-shop assistance to investors, helping them solve problems with project approval, registration, construction and operation.

"We make friends with all of the investors, treat them as our family members, and give them the most favorable treatment," Li said.

"We will create a fine business and residential environment for investors in the hope of not only attracting them to invest but also encouraging them to make their second home here," the Party secretary noted.

The city's government will make efforts to create a fair and standardized market environment for enterprises.

Authorities are strengthening investment attractions, seeking to spur growth of the local economy.

The people of Xuchang sincerely welcome ambitious businessmen and outstanding talents from home and abroad to seek success in Xuchang.

(China Daily 04/13/2007 page12)