A mega economic zone in South China has been envisioned to help the Pearl River Delta (PRD) maintain its competitiveness globally and to achieve sustainable development.

The "economic muscle" would encompass Hong Kong, Macao, Guangdong and extend to include its five neighbouring provinces: Hainan, Jiangxi, Hunan, Fujian and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

If the five could be brought into the South China economic zone in a span of seven years, they could provide a vast market to products made in Guangdong and Hong Kong, and expand the room for economic development of the PRD area.

Currently there are many trade blocks between Guangdong and its neighbouring provinces that hinder free flow of goods and capital. There is also no co-ordination mechanism on the construction of large infrastructure facilities.

The plan for the economic zone has been made even more urgent by the fast development of the Yangtze River Delta area with Shanghai at the centre, said Chen Zuhuang, an expert on policy research with Guangdong provincial government.

For example, Shanghai and Suzhou attracted 7.2 billion yuan (US$870 million) in foreign investment in the first half of the year, as compared with 6 billion yuan (US$725 million) for the nine cities in the PRD area.

More world multinationals have chosen the Yangtze River Delta area to invest because of its rising status in China's economy and vast market.

But for the PRD area, there is a lack of confidence among foreign investors in its development prospects in the next 10 or 20 years, explained Chen.

"To have only a Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) between Hong Kong and the mainland is not enough," Wen Wei Po quoted Chen as saying.

Apart from further economic integration between Hong Kong and the PRD area, the two sides should jointly put forward the concept of a greater delta area.

The area, with the five neighbouring provinces providing a vast market, could one day become the centre of the proposed free trade zone between China and the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Chen said.

China and ASEAN finalized a framework agreement last year on the biggest free-trade zone in the world which would cover a market of nearly 2 billion people. The economic region will also have a combined gross domestic product of US$2 trillion, with total trade projected at US$1.23 trillion.

The building of the greater delta area should be incorporated into the national development strategy for the next 10 years, Chen suggested, adding that the State Council, instead of Guangdong, should take the lead in carrying out the plan.

Editor: Liao Ming