Go-west project dusts itself off in arid plateau

Small businesses

Ma Tingzhong, a farmer and part-time carpenter, started doing woodwork on a construction site in the New Zone in September.

The father of three, living in Honggu county, roughly 80 kilometers west of the New Zone, will need to buy more seed for his land, pay tuition fees for his only son and prepare for his daughters' weddings after next year's Spring Festival. Finding a job after the autumn harvest was critical for the 40-year-old and his family.

The good news is that Ma's carpentry skills earn him more than 400 yuan a day - adequate for most of the projected expenses when he heads home in January.

Ma, along with his approximately 2,000 fellow workers, may have no idea why their employer - Lanzhou Yatai Industrial (Group) Co, a local real estate developer - was bold enough to invest 3 billion yuan to build a headquarters park on barren land covered by a thick layer of wind-blown silt. But, according to Zhang Jiaqing, managing director of the project, his company has every reason to do so.

"This park will be located at the heart of the New Zone once the construction works surrounding it are completed. We believe the New Zone will be powerful enough to drive the economic development of Northwest China," he said.

Companies such as China Eastern Airlines Co and some bio-pharmaceutical makers are set to move offices into the park as early as next year.

"We are sitting on a big goldmine," said Zhang.

Like Zhang, many entrepreneurs of small and medium-sized companies have found their way into the New Zone.

Wei Mingguang, 45, president and chief executive officer of a sunflower oil maker, is one of them. For his company, Gansu Joy Agriculture Tech Co, the zone is a perfect place to refine sunflower oil.

"Officials from the zone have promised me 50,000 tons of seeds. That should be a good start for my new plant," said Wei.

His refinery plant is off the tarred road grid so getting there is a little bumpy even in a sports utility vehicle. However, Wei is extremely satisfied with the spot.

"I would not get 0.4 square kilometers of land if the plant was in the center area. More land means I will have more room for development," Wei said. He started the company more than 10 years ago in Minqin county, about a six-hour drive from Lanzhou.

Wei is anxious to put the plant into production by the end of this year so he can process 200 tons of refined sunflower oil a day.

Because the construction work is not finished and the weather is getting colder, Wei's workers have been put on day and night shifts.

The workers built a three-story office building in 80 days but they have to erect another dozen 15-meter oil tanks before the first snow.

"The nearby freeways and airport will help me transport the products to southern and eastern cities by Spring Festival if the construction ends on time. We enjoy a steady growth in demand from developed areas," Wei said, sitting in a pre-fabricated building used as his office. It is just a few meters away from the site so the bulldozers outside shook it as we spoke.

For Wei, racing against time on the project is a win-or-die move, especially because he plans to get the company listed by the end of next year in Shanghai.

"For a private company, building a large plant in an under-construction economic zone needs a lot of courage. Time will tell if it was a good call," he said.

gaoyuan@chinadaily.com.cn