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Plans for massive 'new Chengdu' in western China
In the new round of China's strategy to develop its western regions, the Tianfu New Area in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan province, is being developed as a "new Chengdu." Construction work on the project started on Dec. 25, 2011.
In effect an all-new city, Tianfu's GDP is projected to hit 650 billion yuan ($103 billion) by the end of 2020, according to plans from the local government.
China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) -- the nation's top economic planner -- said the country has started 23 key western projects at a total investment of 682.2 billion yuan since the end of 2010, about one-third of the total investment made in its "go west" campaign over the previous nine years.
But Yuan Gangming, a researcher with the Center for China in the World Economy at Tsinghua University, said the lack of preferential tax policies over the past decade meant a shortage of foreign and private investment in the region.
The shortfall hindered the area from turning its resource advantages into economic benefits.
The latest move proves that the central government's policy is changing during the latest round of western development, Yuan said.
As a large city in the center of the region, Chengdu has developed faster than other cities in Sichuan. In recent years it has become home to the regional headquarters of international high-tech companies such as Dell, Lenovo, Foxconn and TCL.
Some 50 percent of all laptop computer chips in the world are tested in Chengdu and 20 percent of all computers worldwide -- including 70 percent of Apple's iPads -- will soon be made in the city.
With its sound infrastructure, preferential policies, low operating costs, plentiful human resources and quality services, the city has become a focus for global giants as they move further inland in China.
By November, Chengdu was home to 207 Fortune 500 companies including IBM, Alcatel, Siemens, GE, Cisco, Ericsson, SAP and Accenture. Of the world's top 20 software firms, 11 have operations in the city.
The State Council approved plans for the Chengdu-Chongqing Regional Economic Zone in April 2011, setting a goal for it to become the most important economic area and modern industrial production center for western China by 2015, the last year of the country's 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-15).
The economic zone blueprint calls for increased production of large equipment, aviation products, R&D, petrochemicals and natural gas, metallurgy, biopharmaceuticals, textiles and foodstuffs.
Plans for the Chengdu Tianfu New Area were officially published in October. They envision a new city fueled by modern manufacturing, high-end services and a quality lifestyle.
The plans call for five economic zones as well as two lakes and a mountain encompassed within the 1,578-square-kilometer area.
Construction on 150 new projects in manufacturing, infrastructure and ecology has already begun in the Tianfu New Area. Among them, 84 in urban Chengdu have a combined investment of 214.4 billion yuan.
According to the plan, 35 communities with workplaces and residential buildings will be built in the new area, each covering 20 to 30 sq km. To reduce traffic congestion and pollution, transport to and from work for residents will mostly be by bus and bicycle.
Singapore-Sichuan Innovation Technology Park -- a joint project by a Singaporean consortium headed by Temasek Holdings and the Chengdu High-tech Industrial Development Zone -- is at the core of the Tianfu New Area.
The park will focus on innovative industries such as energy conservation technology, biomedicines and high-end services.
Lim Swee Say, a cabinet minister at the Prime Minister's Office in Singapore, said the affluent island nation is "very interested" in China's western development strategy.
By 1996, the country was already the third-biggest foreign investor in Sichuan, but Lim noted the Singapore-Sichuan park is the first large comprehensive development by Singaporean companies in the province.
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