Projects to enhance city's role as hub

Blast furnace and pharmaceutical center among new endeavors set to further modernize local economy

A group of large investment projects began construction in Zhanjiang in the southern Guangdong province, to prop up the burgeoning city's new status as a regional hub.

According to the local government, a total of 73 major projects will break ground with an accumulative investment of 46 billion yuan ($6.8 billion) in 2019. That's compared to 42 billion yuan last year.

Of the projects, 11 with nearly half of the planned total annual investment amount, or 22.9 billion yuan, broke ground in the first quarter.

Once a less-developed city in Guangdong, Zhanjiang has become more attractive to investors since the provincial government positioned it as a sub-center in the province at the end of 2017, meaning it was promoted to a position on par with Zhuhai and Shantou, and only behind Shenzhen and Guangzhou, two economic powerhouses of the province.

Located on the west wing of Guangdong, Zhanjiang was given the same importance as Shantou, on the east wing, as one of two new engines to bolster the province's economic growth by developing a modern coastal economic belt.

"Zhanjiang will actively grab the favorable opportunities granted by the central and provincial governments ... and stick to the opening-up policy to promote regional integration," said Zheng Renhao, Party secretary of Zhanjiang.

To fulfill the goal, Zheng said the city government identified a strategy of building a passageway, a free trade port and a pilot zone, which put the emphasis on the construction of a modern transportation system, on wider opening-up to highlight the city's pivotal role in the Maritime Silk Road, and on the development of a modern industrial system.

Among projects that kicked off in the first quarter, the Zhanjiang branch of Baosteel, one of China's largest steel makers, plans to invest roughly 19 billion yuan in the construction of its third blast furnace.

According to the company, the new blast furnace will focus on the production of hot-rolled and cold-rolled ultra-high-strength steel and auto body sheets, while adopting a new ultra-low emission standard.

The operation of the new blast furnace, which is due in July 2021, will raise the annual production of iron melt of the facility to nearly 12.3 million metric tons, molten steel to about 12.5 million tons and steel products to roughly 10.8 million tons. All the figures are far higher than the designed capacity of the facility, which began production in 2015.