Liuzhou's car output will shift up a gear

Authorities in Liuzhou, the biggest industrial city in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, have pledged to speed up the development of its ambitious automobile base, according to a senior leader of the city.

"The automobile base will be able to manufacture more than 1 million motor vehicles on an annual basis before the end of 2015," Zheng Junkang, Party chief of Liuzhou and deputy to the National People's Congress, the nation's top legislature, told China Daily on the sidelines of the annual meeting.

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"Its gross regional product will reach 60 billion yuan ($9.8 billion) by that time, and tens of thousands of new jobs will be created," he said, noting the base was the first "mega" project launched by the autonomous region's government for the nation's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015).

The city government is making every effort to accelerate the base's construction, with favorable policies and support having been put in place.

Liuzhou is the biggest carmaker in Guangxi, which ranked sixth on the Chinese mainland in 2013 in terms of automobile production, official statistics show.

Zheng said the government plans to make the base one of the top-tier automobile manufacturing centers in the world specializing in luxury and new-energy cars.

With construction starting in 2011, the automobile base has a planned area of 203 square kilometers and eight sections, including manufacturing facilities, residences, exhibition malls, training agencies and test fields.

Currently, there are several major construction projects in the base that are progressing smoothly. They include a research and development center, a vocational school and a wastewater disposal plant, the base's management committee said in a statement.

The base will significantly solidify Liuzhou's share in the nation's automobile production industry, according to Zheng. He said more than 1.8 million cars were made in the city in 2013, accounting for 8.4 percent of China's total output that year.

The rapid growth in the automobile industry has helped the city achieve huge success in its economy, the official said.