Dezhou, Tianjin partner to build tech park

By Wang Qian (China Daily)
Updated: 2012-11-09

This production line in Dezhou produces building hardware.

A high-tech industrial park jointly developed by Dezhou in Shandong province and Tianjin municipality has become a hot investment destination, marking the start of a deeper partnership between two of China's economic powerhouses.

Located in Qingyun, Dezhou county, the Hongyun Industrial Park is being jointly constructed and developed by the county and Hongqiao district in Tianjin.

With a designed area of 108 square kilometers, the park will be built in three phases, and it will function as an incubator for high tech enterprises and research as well as a base for commerce and high-efficiency ecological agriculture.

It will feature such services and benefits as storage and logistics, preferential tax policies, and financing.

Leaders aim to develop it into a high-end industrial demonstration base connecting the Yellow River Delta Eco-Efficient Economic Zone and the Tianjin Binhai New Zone, two national strategic areas approved by the State Council for regional development.

"Dezhou, which is only 200 kilometers away from Tianjin, has an abundant labor supply and a vast area of undeveloped land, providing a sound foundation for cooperation between the two sides," said Sun Fengguang, deputy director of the Dezhou Regional Cooperation Office.

"We will learn from Tianjin's experience developing the Binhai New Zone and create new advantages in the course of expanding mutually beneficial cooperation on high technology and emerging industries," Sun added.

With huge development potential, the park has now attracted more than 20 key projects involving a combined total of 18.3 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) in investments from domestic and overseas businesses.

They include an 8.45-billion-yuan biomass energy project backed by Shanghai's Qiyao New Energy Co Ltd. Once complete, it is expected to provide an annual power generation capacity of 96 million kilowatt-hours and bring in sales revenue totaling 785 million yuan.

wangqian2@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/08/2012 page16)