Zhanjiang will focus on development of industry, construction of seaport and attraction of investment from home and abroad in a bid to boost its economic development, says Xu Shaohua, Mayor of Zhanjiang City when receiving interview with Newsgd.com.

Xu Shaohua talks about the situation now in Zhanjiang, and shows us his determination in developing the city's economy. World-class waterway, large oil and iron mine ports and heavy chemistry industrial park. Other soft environment are also being improved. Mayor Xu will Zhanjiang will no longer be a word associating with poverty.

The following records the whole interview:

Q: Mr. Zhang Dejiang, Secretary of Guangdong Committee of CPC, once says town planning is the key to rapid development of a city. What is the blueprint for Zhanjiang development in the future?

A: As the 2nd biggest city in Guangdong in terms of population, we have 7 million people, while our GDP only ranks the 9th, and GDP per capita is only half of the average of the province. We had been left behind by many cities in the province in the past two decades. This was because we were not on the right track for rapid development. Now we are so eager to develop so as to keep up with Pearl River Delta, which is the relatively rich place in Guangdong. We have advantage in natural resource and geographical position. We have long coastline, and we are on the join point of Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan. With a careful planning, we can certainly achieve great progress in economic and social construction. At present Zhanjiang has three main task:
1) construction of a new port city
2) construction of a beautiful seaside city
3) work out a general strategy for the city

Q: Talking about the city's rich resource, what projects are you carrying out on better the utilization of them?

A: We are working on 4 big projects at present, including (1) a world-class waterway, with a capacity for 300-thousands tons cargo ships, which will be finished in 2005. The central government gives us much support, inputting billions-RMB investment. (2) its coordinating project, the finished 300-thousands-tons-level onshore oil port. This port attracts the top 3 oil corporations to open their ventures in Zhanjiang. (3) a 200-thousands-tons-level iron mine port, which will be opened in 2004. (4) a heavy-chemistry industrial park. In the first phase of construction, it covers 100 thousands square meters, while finally 300 thousands.

Q: Comparing with other coastal cities like Qingdao, Dalian, Ningbo and Xiamen, what is Zhanjiang's advantage?

A: Three aspects have to be taken into consideration:

1) Zhanjiang port is a bulk cargo port, characterized by importing and exporting a large quantity of grains and raw and processed materials, such as ore resources, steel products and industrial chemicals. Especially, the cost of transportation can be largely saved after the completion of the above-mentioned deep-water waterway and a large dock.

2) Zhanjiang port has to closely cooperate with the other five Southwest neighboring provinces. In the hope of promoting further cooperation with them, next year we are going to hold a large-scaled conference in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province.

3) Zhanjiang occupies an important geographical position in the ASEAN free trade zone. And of all ports in China, Zhanjiang port possesses the shortest exporting water route to this zone.

Q: Can you talk about your assumption on the economic development of this port city?

A: In the coming 20 years, Zhanjiang is proposed to promote industrialization at all levels. Our main task is to keep up with Guangdong's average pace of industrialization within the next 5 years, aiming to increase the proportion of the second industry in GDP to 40% or 50%. With 10 years a modern industrial port city is believed to take shape.

Q: What opportunity will this ICCFED bring to Zhanjiang?

A: After China's entry into WTO, Cantonese have to be more open-minded. Zhanjiang people are of no exception. Undoubtedly, this ICCFED gives us a good chance to learn how to foster Zhanjiang's opening-up to the outside world.

Q: What is the purpose of Zhanjiang investment conference on Nov. 5th?

A: This conference is to promote Zhanjiang industrial expo, which is to be held at the end of this month, and to introduce Zhanjiang's progressing investment environment in a bid to attract investment from home and abroad. In particular, we hope more Guangdong private enterprises would find Zhanjiang appealing to them.

Q: Up to now, what measures has Zhanjiang taken in attracting foreign investment?

A: We have been endeavoring to cultivate more talents and to set up an appealing image.

Q: I have heard of that Mayor Xu has a habit of serfing southcn.com twice a day to get access to the latest information. Can you tell what benefits Internet has brought to your daily work?

A: I do have formed a habit of surfing on southcn.com at half past eleven both in the morning and at night. Living in information society, we do feel the strong impact of Internet on our thoughts and life style. In my opinion, every modern enterprise would have its webpage and can be accessed by the world through Internet. That is what I am actively promoting in Zhanjiang now.

Editor: Wing