A glance at Lanzhou New Zone

Updated: 2015-09-17

On Aug 20,2012, the State Council approved plans to establish the nation's fifth State-level development zone in Lanzhou, the capital city of Northwest China's Gansu province.

Located in Qinwangchuan Basin in northern Lanzhou, 80 kilometers from downtown Lanzhou.

Covers an area of 800 square kilometers.

Infrastructure will not be competed until 2030.

44 high-rise residential buildings will be competed next year.

It had lured 90 projects by October.

Accumulated corporate investment has been more than 70 billion yuan ($11.2 billion) in the zone.

A man works in the plant run by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in Lanzhou New Zone, Sept 6, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

The largest business operating in the zone is a plant run by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, a Zhejiang-based automaker and the largest shareholder of Volvo Group.

Sany Group has invested 530 million yuan in a concrete mixer manufacturing plant in the zone.

Lanzhou Yatai Industrial (Group) Co, a local real estate developer, has invested 3 billion yuan in building a headquarters park in the heart of the zone.

Veolia Water China, the Chinese arm of a France-based water service company, is talking with the local government about a water supply contract with the zone. Veolia's joint venture with the municipal government provides running water for 2.5 million people in downtown Lanzhou.

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Lanzhou New Zone looks to new opportunity  2012-09-17

China's newest State-level development zone in Northwest China is looking toward Central and West Asia to increase trade flow as export confidence remains shaken by the eurozone debt crisis and economic slowdown in the Pacific Rim.

The Lanzhou New Area, China's fifth State-level development zone, was established in August to "explore the market of the Commonwealth of the Independent States", said Lu Wucheng, the top Party official in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province.

Sitting in the geometric center of the country and the traditional transportation hub toward Europe, Lu said the city, with its advantage of oil refining and equipment manufacturing, is well prepared to develop energy industries by importing more raw materials from Central Asia and Mongolia.

Lanzhou New Area launched  2012-09-08

China has mapped out a new State-level development zone in the inland Gansu province, as the country eyes its western regions amid a general slowdown in coastal areas.

The Lanzhou New Area is expected to promote bilateral trade with Central and Western Asian countries, officials said.

The area - which is about 30-minute drive from Lanzhou, Gansu's capital - has been sectioned out by the central government in August as the fifth national-level development zone, after similar zones were set up in metropolises such as Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing.