Funding needed for constructing infrastructure

Major infrastructure projects in Zhanjiang are now vying for investors in Hong Kong.

"The city is in high gear to develop its port, road, railway, air transportation facilities, creating ample investment opportunities," said Zhao Zhihui, executive deputy mayor of Zhanjiang.

The coastal city now has embarked on a new chapter in its development history with the opening of a series of large projects in the steel and pharmaceutical industries in the past few years.

The near future will be a golden era for the development of the western, eastern and northern areas of Guangdong, and it will also be a time of intensive infrastructure construction in Zhanjiang.

Zhao said he envisions that the rapid development of the city's transportation network will make it the hub of a two-hour economic circle in the Pearl River Delta region and the one-hour economic circle within the Leizhou Peninsula.

He said construction has begun on several roads. In the next three to five years, there are 20 road projects involving a combined investment of up to 70 billion yuan ($11.5 billion).

These projects include a road linking Donghai Island to the Leizhou Peninsula, another between Shantou and Zhanjiang as well as some undersea tunnels.

Three railway projects that are currently in the planning stages will offer ample opportunities for strategic investors. The total investment is expected to hit 11.7 billion yuan, and the total length of railway in the city will expand to 187.3 kilometers, Zhao said.

The construction on the railway of Donghai Island will kick off by the end of this year and be complete by 2015.

The railway connecting Hepu and Zhanjiang has been listed in the key development plan of Guangdong. By 2015 the total mileage of railways Zhanjiang will reach 374 km.

In another development, port construction will no doubt become a hot destination for investment, he said.

In the next few years, 22 port projects are planned, and it is projected they will attract a total investment of 47 billion yuan.

They include the three auxiliary docks for the key steel, oil as well as power projects, the Baoman port zone, the waterway renovation in Zhanjiang port as well as a general cargo wharf.

By 2015, the throughput capacity in Zhanjiang is expected to hit 270 million tons.

Flying to Zhanjiang will be even more convenient for those who hope to cash in on the improving prospects in this emerging coastal city, Zhao said.

The city now has the only 4D-level airport in western Guangdong. It has opened some 10 air routes connecting to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. The annual passenger volume has hit 520,000.

Construction of the new airport of Zhanjiang, which has a planned investment of 6 billion yuan, will kick off in 2015, and it is expected that the new airport, Yuexi International Airport, or literally Western Guangdong International Airport, will benefit 12 million residents of the province.

yangcheng@chinadaily.com.cn