Heilongjiang plans six industrial bases
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2004-05-29 13:47

Heilongjiang Province is restructuring its industrial mix by constructing six pillar industrial bases so as to realize the goal of a comprehensive industrial rejuvenation, a provincial official said.

Wang Zhongren

Wang Zhongren, deputy director of the province's Development and Reform Commission, said the bases include the equipment and manufacturing industrial base, petrochemical industrial base, food processing base, energy base, pharmaceutical base, and forest and timber processing base.

The manufacturing base will focus on aircraft, helicopter, supercritical thermo-power generating units, nuclear and hydropower generating units, digital machine tools, automobiles and metallurgical complete sets. Enterprises in this sector include Harbin Aircraft Corporation, Dongan Group, and Harbin Power Plant Equipment Group.

Wang said that Harbin Power Pant Equipment Group is highlighted in the restructuring process. This enterprise manufactures some critical power-generating units, for the Three Gorges Dam project on the Yangtze River, and is considered an engine to drive the industrial rejuvenation in the province.

Of the petrochemical sector, the city of Daqing has an important role to play. The oilfield produces sufficient crude oil for the industry; in addition, oil imports from Russia could also help the takeoff of the petrochemical industry. The petrochemical industrial base will focus on the expansion of the production scale of ethylene and synthetic materials, fertilizer, refined chemicals and plastics processing.

Since Heilongjiang is a major grain producer in China, mainly rice, soybean and corn, raw material supplies for food processing and pharmaceutical industrial are adequate. Wang explained that in the pharmaceutical industry, priority would be given to raw material medicine, biotechnology medicine. Harbin Pharmaceutical Group is a leader in this industry, and it plans to set up pharmaceutical parks to expand its production capacity.

With the Daxing'anling and Xiaoxing'anling mountains in the province, the province boosts high forest coverage, at 43%, and is therefore a major timber producer. The forest and timber processing industry will focus on the production of boards, paper products, furniture and forest-related products.

In the recent years, Wang said, China-Russia trade grew fast, now accounting for 63% of the province's total foreign trade volume. Large of amount of timber, totaling about 10 million cubic meters, was also imported from Russia's far east, giving the industry more advantage to expand.

Wang said the central government's strategic decision to rejuvenate the old industrial base in northeast China means a golden opportunity for the province. The province will restructure and optimize its industrial mix.

He said that the second industry will account for about 58% of the province's total gross domestic product in 2010, and the most important thing is that its quality and structure will be improved.

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