Jinan held a press conference on March 4 to announce that in 2024, the city will seek to introduce 2,000 major projects with a combined investment of 2.66 trillion yuan ($369.5 billion).

At the beginning of 2023, Jinan set a goal of introducing 1,301 major projects with a total investment of 2.4 trillion yuan.

For two consecutive years, the city has prioritized the introduction of projects in its efforts to build a robust provincial capital.

Jinan has started bolstering project-related efforts this year, with a Jinan delegation making a special trip on Feb 21 to Shanghai to promote investment and hold discussions with Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co, one of the largest domestic suppliers of anti-tumor drugs, surgical drugs, and contrast agents, as well as Aiko Solar, one of the world's major suppliers of photovoltaic cells.

A ceremony was held on Feb 26 to mark the start of work on 73 projects with a total investment of 123.3 billion yuan.

The ceremony was held at the venue for the high-efficiency battery component project of Aiko Solar, which has a total investment of 36 billion yuan and is expected to achieve an annual output value of 60 billion yuan, increasing globally-leading high-efficiency solar cell and component production capacity by 30GW. The project is also expected to create more than 10,000 new jobs.

In addition, Shulan (Jinan) Hospital, which is intended to aid in the transformation of growth drivers in Shandong province and is a key project in Jinan, was officially put into use on Feb 29. It is the largest tertiary hospital in western Jinan, with a planned capacity of 1800 beds, and will provide international, intelligent, standardized, and high-quality medical services.