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The economic zone of Ningxia along the Yellow River will become a key engine to accelerate the development of the Wild West of China, Ningxia governor Wang Zhengwei said during a press conference in Beijing on July 6.

The old industrial city Shizuishan is included in the city cluster of Ningxia along the Yellow River. [File Photo]

The economic zone covers 10 Ningxia cities and occupies 43 percent of the region's land, 57 percent of its population, 80 percent of its industries and 90 percent of its total economic output.

The zone will gather all of Ningxia's advantages in resources, cultures, policies, and ethnic unity, Wang said. They will become an important growth pole to drive the economy of the region.

The local government has mulled over building the river-front city cluster to give an impetus to its economic growth since 2005.

The Yellow River is historically considered the cradle as well as the mother river of Chinese people.

Most well-known city clusters are built around major rivers of a region, such as the Economic Zone along Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province and Economic Zone along Zhujiang River in Guangdong Province, the governor said.

In December last year, the State Council included the Ningxia economic zone in the national strategy and listed it as one of 18 national key development zones.

Wang Zhengwei, chairman of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, addresses a press conference in Beijing, July 6, 2011. [Zhang Lin/China.org.cn]

Ningxia is also one of the 12 west provinces covered in the national Western Development Strategy. The west region contains 71 percent of China's land mass, 29 percent of its population, but just 20 percent of its total economic output.

The central government carried out its strategy in 1999 in a bid to speed up the development of the west hinterlands and narrow the gap between the west region and coastal areas.

The bid formulated multiple preferential policies in supporting Ningxia. The governor released that the local government is creating conditions in an attempt to bid for comprehensive bonded area.

He cited Wu Bangguo, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, as saying that the provincial region of Ningxia will be treated as a big city in planning and development.

Residents in the southern mountainous area will move into the economic zone of Ningxia along the Yellow River and urban areas, Wang said.

He estimated that Ningxia's urban population will reach 4.1 million by 2015, with the urbanization rate at 70 percent, and hit 5 million by 2020, representing the urbanization rate at 75 percent.