Blessed with an ideal location and one of the world's top 100 airports, Shuangliu County in Sichuan Province is putting emphasis on the development of the airport economy.

Located at the core of China's southwestern economic zone, Shuangliu is in the centre of the new modern city being built by Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, in its southward expansion.

Shuangliu boasts the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, China's fifth largest international airport and one of the top 100 airports in the world in terms of passenger handling capacity.

As the airport's strategic position linking Southwest China with Northwest China and connecting Europe and Asia strengthens, Shuangliu has the conditions required to develop the airport economy and provides a rare, historic opportunity for Fortune 500 companies to establish themselves and expand.

Shuangliu will develop the modern material distribution, service, high-tech and manufacturing sectors in line with the characteristics of the airport economy and its own advantages.

With air transportation as the core, Shuangliu will make full use of the Southwest Airport Economic Development Zone's advantages in highway and water transportation to start construction of a 5.1-square-kilometre airport material distribution park, aiming to introduce world-famous modern material distribution enterprises and becoming an international airport material distribution hub.

The Southwest Airport Economic Development Zone, the only development zone in West China combining air, railway, highway and water transportation, is a provincial-level development zone approved by the Sichuan provincial government and an important component of Chengdu's southern sub-centre according to the planning of Chengdu's development strategy.

The Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport connects 48 mainland cities, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Seoul, Paris, Tokyo and Osaka. The airport transports 5 million people and 30,000 tons of cargo a year.

The Southwest Airport Economic Development Zone is near the Chengdu Railway North Station and Chengdu Railway South Station, the two largest passenger and cargo transportation centres in Southwest China.

The zone is one of the Chinese regions with the highest highway density. The Chengdu-Ya'an Expressway, Chengdu-Leshan Expressway, Chengdu Loop Expressway, Airport Expressway and Chengdu-Leshan High-Grade Highway run across it.

The zone's nearest inland ports are Leshan Port in Sichuan and Chongqing Port in Chongqing Municipality. It takes two hours to fly to each of the three international ports - Shanghai Port, Yantian Port in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, and Guangzhou Port in the capital of Guangdong.

The zone, which has attracted Fortune 500 companies such as Bayer of Germany and Tyco of the United States, has witnessed outside investment of 10.3 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) since it was set up 13 years ago. Pharmaceuticals, optics, electronics, machinery, pollution-free food, education and scientific research are its pillar industries.

Shuangliu will introduce a market mechanism to speed up development of the urban convention and exhibition sector, tourism and food processing. It will plan construction of high-grade facilities for holding conventions and exhibitions as well as auxiliary hotels and commerce centres, trying to build itself into a window through which the rest of the world can understand Chengdu and Chengdu can mingle with the world.

It will introduce both domestic and foreign investors to accelerate construction of the Mumashan Sports, Leisure and Tourism New City, development of tourism in its 1,700-year-old Huanglongxi (Yellow Dragon Stream) Town and sightseeing along the Fuhe River, trying to build itself into Sichuan's tourism service base starting with the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport.

It will make full use of its role as China's largest fine-quality loquat and winter strawberry base to attract world-famous pollution-free food processing and marketing enterprises, turning its advantages in resources into advantages in economic competitiveness.

The Southwest Airport Economic Development Zone is home to the Sichuan Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Sichuan University, Chengdu University of Information Technology as well as the Industrial Park and Optics and Electronic Industrial Park of the CAS which are taking shape.

Shuangliu will give full play to their advantage in scientific research and industries to speed up the industrial integration of optics, machinery and electronics, trying to build the Southwest Airport Economic Development Zone into West China's "Optics Valley."

It will rely on its integrated system of traditional Chinese medicine research, production and development, Chengdu's advantage as China's most important medicinal herb producer and distribution centre to back 22 advantageous pharmaceutical enterprises, trying to foster biological medicine production into its pillar industry.

The West Auto and Motorcycle City is near the Southwest Airport Economic Development Zone. Shuangliu will make full use of this geographical advantage to accelerate its efforts to set up vehicle and parts producing enterprises in the international auto and motorcycle industry to the Southwest Airport Economic Development Zone.

It will integrate production with the market, trying to create West China's machine manufacturing base led by auto, motorcycle and parts manufacturing. It will also co-operate with the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport to introduce aviation manufacturing and maintenance enterprises.

(China Daily)