NANJING: Local governments of East China's Jiangsu Province have shaped a variety of plans for the cities and areas along the Yangtze River to develop together, according to Qian Zhixin, director of the provincial planning commission.

Plans are being laid for a modern logistics network to be built along the river, connecting every city and town in the region.

The area along the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province includes six cities and 15 county-level cities, covering 24 per cent of the 24.6 thousand square kilometres of the entire province.

The six cities are Nanjing, Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Yangzhou, Taizhou and Nantong. Together with the county-level cities, they have a population of 24.09 million, accounting for 32.7 per cent of population of the province.

Nanjing, the capital city of the province, Wuxi and Suzhou will be developed into three centres of this network, according to the plan.

Co-operating with each other, the cities will make full use of their existing roads, ports and airports and build new transportation infrastructure to better serve markets, producers and users.

"More investors will be attracted by the high efficiency of the logistics network, which will be a great advantage to the area," Qian said.

Programming of the development of the cities and areas along the Yangtze River has become a hot topic in the working conferences held in the province.

Nanjing Mayor Jiang Hongkun said at a recent working conference in the city: "Good planning is the key point in the development of these areas."

Along the Yangtze River, almost all the cities, county-level cities and towns have made their own plans, which will greatly enhance their development.

Experts hold that although these respective individual plans will be very good for local development, they may be not suitable for the development of the province as a whole and the entire area along the river.

Party Secretary of Jiangsu Province Li Yuanchao points out that a comprehensive programme of development should be made for all the cities and areas along the Yangtze River as a whole.

Within the parameters of this comprehensive programme, every city and area can still make plans according to their special characteristics, such as different locations or major industries.

(HK Edition 07/25/2003 page2)