Lianyungang in East China's Jiangsu Province expects a local carbon fiber maker to become the world's largest by 2010, said the city's Party secretary Wang Jianhua.

The port city also aims to build Asia's largest base for producing wind power blade by then, said Wang, a delegate from Jiangsu attending the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

These are part of the city's drive to build high-end industries to catch up with the rest of the province, the Party secretary said. To that end, the city will further improve the local investment climate.

The northern part of the province has traditionally lagged behind the south in economic development. Lianyungang, located in northern Jiangsu, will try to achieve high growth rate while reining in pollution to implement the scientific development model, Wang said.

"During the 2006-10 period, we will double our gross domestic product (GDP), quadruple fiscal revenue and reduce the per-unit GDP consumption of energy by 20 percent."

The city will build a number of industrial bases for new medicine, new materials and new energy, he added.

"The Lianyungang-based Yingyou (Group) Corporation has broken the technological monopoly of foreign companies and built its own carbon fiber facility with an annual capacity of 220 tons," Wang said.

The company's carbon fiber production accounts for half of the national output and is expected to reach 10,000 tons a year by 2010, the world's largest, he said.

(China Daily 10/19/2007 page14)