Shandong's drive to simultaneously urbanize and increase living standards for its residents is creating greater space for cooperation between the province and long-time trading partner Hong Kong.

Located on China's prosperous eastern coast, the province is answering Premier Li Keqiang's call for a "new type of urbanization" focused on the needs of the common people.

"The new urbanization is a strategic choice for Shandong to maintain sustainable development," said Guo Shuqing, acting governor of Shandong. "It creates precious investment opportunities."

The province is inviting investors from around the world to help fund its efforts. At this year's Shandong-Hong Kong Trade and Investment Week in Hong Kong, 80 percent of the projects offered by Shandong are related to urban construction, such as property development and infrastructure.

Shandong's urbanization rate is 52.43 percent in terms of permanent urban residents, according to statistics from the Shandong development and reform commission.

Because of province's strategy of stressing quality over rapid growth, 10 of its cities now place among the top 100 in China in terms of comprehensive strength, and 26 of its counties were among the top 100 counties.

Shandong plans to raise its urbanization rate to 56 percent by the end of 2015 and 63 percent by 2020 through the relocation of 1.5 million rural people to urban areas every year.

The province's urbanization is supported by the three city clusters that are now under construction on the Shandong Peninsula, the Yellow River Delta and in Jinan.

Combined investment in the Shandong Peninsula city cluster is projected to exceed 9.4 trillion yuan during the five years from 2011 to 2015, according to statistics from Shandong Branch of China Development Bank.

Meng Fanli, head of the Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce, noted Hong Kong investors are playing an important role in Shandong's urbanization process.

Investment from Hong Kong-funded projects in the sectors of property development, tourism, industrial parks and ports has exceeded $30 billion. Shandong's urbanization is designed to be balanced with such ideals as eco-friendly industrialization, informationization and agricultural modernization, which will create business opportunities across a wide range of sectors, Meng said.

In early May, Shandong announced it developed 18 parks for marine industries on the Shandong Peninsula and the eight high-efficiency and ecological parks in the Yellow River Delta. These parks will become bases for such sectors as marine equipment manufacturing, modern services and emerging industries.

More than 100 projects have already started construction in the parks.

Shandong also wants to expand cooperation with Hong Kong in the sectors of training and informationization.

By Zhao Ruixue

zhaoruixue@chinadaily.com.cn