Ding, who regularly puts in 12-hour days six days a week, drives himself hard and believes in keeping fit.

"I exercise every day and on my day oA I play badminton, which I do to quite a high level, when I am not visiting my 96-year-old father," he says.

He also has a remarkable career history. He began work as a lowly pipe layer for a local State-owned water supply company in the 1970s and became the boss 18 years later.

He caught up with his lack of earlier education by taking a master's degree in business administration at the China Academy of Science, in Beijing in the 1990s.

He moved into local government holding a number of positions, including vice-mayor for one of the remotest and poorest cities of Guizhou province.

He became Party secretary of the new district in 2008 and a member of the Standing Committee of the Guiyang Committe of the Communist Party of China last year.

"I am very committed to the success of the new district since it is vital to bringing investment and jobs to the city and the region," he says.

Ding admits it is di= cult and probably unrealistic to make foreign companies think of Guiyang as an investment destination before considering first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.

"So far, we haven't really seen foreign companies coming to China for the fi rst time and choosing to invest in Guiyang, rather than some fi rst-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai," he says.

But he says the aim is to attract high-tech and service industries and retailers rather than traditional manufacturers, since a key objective for the area is to be an eco-friendly city fi tting in with the green and lush environment of Guizhou province.

He says he has signed contracts with the Taiwan-based retailer RT-Mart and is currently in negotiations with French supermarket group Auchan.

"We are hoping companies like these can be our ambassadors to promote Jinyang and encourage more foreign companies to come here and invest," he says.

He already has some high-profi le political allies, including former British prime minister Tony Blair who has been a regular visitor and former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder who attended the 2012 Eco-Forum Global held at the Guiyang International Exhibition and Convention Center in July.

Ding proudly holds up a photo of him with Schroeder.

"He told me that Jinyang must be a very beautiful and pleasant place to live. Schroeder said the city outlook reminded him of his hometown in Germany," he says.

No one doubts the challenges faced by Ding and his team of city planners.

Lu Jinyong, director of the China Research Center for Foreign Investment at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, says they can learn from the success of others.

"Guiyang can learn from other developed regions in China who have done similar schemes. Because it is in a favorable ecological environment it can also follow Europe's mode of building up some park cities," he says.

Ding is keen to turn Jinyang into a major fi nancial center with the newly constructed fi nancial district opening for business this year.

He aims to bring in 100 financial institutions over the next three years and is planning to invest a further 30 billion yuan in the center over the next three years. The Bank of China has already acquired one 200-meter-tall building and a number of banks and fi nancial companies have signed deals.

"In the past, fi nancial companies and supervision institutions were scattered around the original city and provided a hindrance to the development of fi nancial services," he says.

"We hope some companies will make their headquarters here so we can attract some leading talents in the sector to come and work in Jinyang," he says.

Meanwhile, the investment momentum continues with 120 projects of a value of 10 billion yuan under construction now and a further six projects with a value of more than 100 billion yuan to be launched later this year.

"We are making eA orts to build Guiyang as a modern international city that is both favorable to live in and a place to do business. I am sure this will help us to attract more US or European companies to invest here," he says.

Contact the writers at huhaiyan@ chinadaily.com.cn and andrewmoody@ chinadaily.com.cn