Relocating factories move inland to Shangqiu

To accommodate companies and attract investment from both home and abroad, the government of Shangqiu spent 9.5 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) last year to improve infrastructure in the city in Central China's Henan province.

Construction included 60 roads with a combined length of 265 kilometers and facilities to serve companies relocating from coastal regions, according to a report released last month by the city government.

A total of 226 projects were signed up for the city's industrial sector last year, of which 126 had an investment of at least 100 million yuan each, said the report.

Shangqiu is a transportation junction that neighbors East China's Shandong and Anhui provinces and is close to Jiangsu province.

The local government also built five facilities to treat water while setting guidelines that ban new projects that are highly polluting or energy intensive.

Zhang Chi, deputy mayor of Shangqiu, told China Daily that the local government is encouraging international companies to build factories.

"We will provide convenient services to foreign investors," he said. "Shangqiu aims to become a business-friendly city with beneficial policies for land and excellent human resources."

He noted that "Shangqiu is a city with thousands of years of history in commercial activities - the word shang means business in Chinese".

Eighty percent of the city's large projects - which have a combined total investment of more than 12.6 billion yuan - are operations that relocated from the coastal regions of Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangsu provinces, said the government report.

Xiangxuehai Electrical Appliance Co Ltd, a refrigerator manufacturer with total assets of more than 3 billion yuan, moved its headquarters to Shangqiu from Ningbo in Zhejiang province at the end of 2010.

The local government provided a series of beneficial policies and it took only 100 days for Xiangxuehai to finish construction on its workshops and move its headquarters.

Many other refrigerator manufacturers have also moved their facilities to Shangqiu.

Zhejiang Huamei Electric Appliances Co has now set up a factory in Shangqiu with the capacity to make 1.2 million refrigerators annually, while Zhejiang Fly-Dragon Electronic Co has a facility that can produce 1 million refrigerators each year.

In September, Guangzhou Wanbo Group invested 2 billion yuan to build an industrial park in Shangqiu that can produce as many as 3 million refrigerators annually.

The city has also attracted factories for a range of famous brands including Adidas, Armani, Giuseppe and Anta.

It has established 12 industrial parks in its suburbs including the Minquan refrigerator park and the Eastern Henan logistics industrial park.

To make relocation from coastal regions more convenient, the city government has given the county government administrative powers to approve land use, environmental appraisal and the industrial registration.

In China, counties are usually governed by cities.

Lu Zhangong, Party secretary of Henan province, lauded the efforts by Shangqiu when he visited in November.

"The railway transportation is very convenient, which will definitely contribute to the economic development of the city," Lu said.

Tao Minglun, Party secretary of Shangqiu, said that industrial development will benefit not only companies but also local residents since they can find a job near their home and no longer need to migrate thousands of kilometers to find employment.

"There are 8.3 million residents living in Shangqiu, more than 3 million of them available for work," Tao said. "The rich human resources will help local companies make more profit."

Xiong Yibo and Wang Haoping contributed to this story.

Contact the writer at shibaoyin@chinadaily.com.cn