Zhanjiang pins hopes on two mega projects

Construction work for two large industrial facilities in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province is on schedule, Mayor Wang Zhongbing told the annual provincial legislative session in Guangzhou on Thursday.

Wang said an iron and steel project being built by Baosteel Group, the country's largest steel producer, will require investment of 12.3 billion yuan ($2.03 billion) this year. The plant will produce 10 million metric tons of steel annually, starting in late 2015.

The other project, a petrochemical complex that's a joint venture of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) and Kuwait Petroleum Corp, is designed to process 15 million metric tons of crude oil and produce 1 million tons of ethylene annually. Wang said that the crude oil project will open by 2016 and the ethylene project by 2017.

He also said that the output of a paper-making base is expected to reach 10 billion yuan this year.

These big projects are the key engines for the western Guangdong city, said the city's Party chief Liu Xiaohua.

"Zhanjiang's major goal is to raise per capita GDP to the provincial average by 2017. The mega industrial projects are the key to realizing the goal," Liu said on Thursday. He commented as the Zhanjiang delegation of the National People's Congress deputies discussed the government work report by Guangdong Governor Zhu Xiaodan.

"The projects are also important to the provincial government's plan to revitalize and develop the eastern, western and northern parts of Guangdong," Liu added.

Wang, citing the work report, said that GDP growth and fixed-asset investment in the western, eastern and northern parts of Guangdong exceeded levels for the Pearl River Delta last year. "The large projects will help the Port of Zhanjiang to reclaim its ranking as one of the country's top 10 ports."

Zhanjiang has "the chance of a lifetime" to boost its economy, with the provincial government's support for building transportation networks linking the prosperous Pearl River Delta with the other, less-developed parts of Guangdong.

Liu said that the provincial government has promised to start construction on the Shenzhen-Maoming section of the Guangdong Western Coastal High-Speed Rail link this year. Completion is scheduled for 2017. Construction of Zhanjiang's international airport, with annual passenger throughput projected at 2.5 million, will finish in 2017.

A rail link between Zhanjiang West Station and Donghai Island, where the steel and petrochemical projects are located, will be completed in 2016.