Northeast China, the country's aging industrial center, is to be
the focus of a new development program making it the home of four
industrial bases, according to the Northeast China Revival Plan,
which has been approved by the State Council, the country's
cabinet, the Shanghai Securities News reported
yesterday.
The bases will cover equipment manufacturing, new material and
energy, commodity grain and animal husbandry production, and
research and development of key technologies.
Areas in the plan involve Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang provinces, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region's Hulunbeier,
Tongliao, and Chifeng cities, and Xingan and Xilinguole
leagues.
The area has a total population of 122 million and a land area
of 1.45 million square kilometers.
The plan is to improve Northeast China's development in
equipment manufacturing, including heavy machinery, computerized
numerical control machine tools, electric power transmission
equipment, vehicle and spare parts production, and rail transport
equipment manufacturing, according to Wang Guanglin, researcher
with the Liaoning Provincial Academy of Social Science.
"The establishment of these technological research and
development and innovation bases will be supported by manufacturing
sector," Wang said.
The State Council also ordered relevant departments to
strengthen supervision, support, and implementation of the revival
plan and create a sound policy environment for the revitalization
of the old industrial bases.
However, Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang have drafted their-own
plans for the 11th Five-Year Program (2006-10) and different
departments have some special blueprints, said Liu Xiaonan, a
researcher with the provincial academy.
"Conditioned by administrative system, their plans lack
cross-provincial projects and regional coordination. The separate
plans are also lacking coordination," Liu said.
Officials from the National Development and Reform Commission
(NDRC) said the revival plan connects the special and regional
plans to optimize distribution of resources.
The State Council also pointed out that administrative division
barriers should be broken to promote reasonable allocation of
resources and flows of production requisites.
Different government organs, including the Northeast
Revitalization Leading Office of the State Council, the NDRC and
China Development Bank, began drafting the plan in May, 2005.
(Chinadaily.com.cn August 9, 2007)