Qidong City in Jiangsu Province of China On Track to Meet Goals

The first year of the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-15) was a successful one for Qidong, with the city meeting all of its targets.
 
In 2011, Qidong's GDP totaled 52 billion yuan ($8.3 billion), a 38 percent increase over last year. Its revenue from taxes and fees rose 38 percent over the 2010 figure to 10.4 billion yuan, of which local general revenue amounted to 4.4 billion yuan, a 41 percent year-on-year increase.
 
Fixed-asset investments reached 30.3 billion yuan, 20.8 percent higher than the 2010 level. The sales volume of retail goods expanded by 17.1 percent from the 2010 level to reach 19.7 billion yuan. The disposable income for urban residents per capita totaled nearly 23, 900 yuan, and net income for rural resident per capita amounted to 12,535 yuan, increases of 15.9 percent and 18.4 percent, respectively, over the preceding year.
 
Qidong was named a national technologically advanced city for the sixth time. It also climbed 13 places in rankings of the nation's top 100 counties in terms of economic competitiveness and 12 places in the nation's top 100 counties for scientific development.
 
The city has been successful in transforming the pattern of its economic development pattern and upgrading its industrial structure.
 
In 2011, 46 of Qidong's enterprises grew into large-scale enterprises. The number of its companies valued at more than 100 million yuan grew by 65 and the number valued at 1 billion yuan increased by five.
 
The output of new industry accounted for more than one-third of the total output of the city's large-scale industry.
 
The city launched 329 new agricultural projects and expansions of existing projects.
 
High-yield crops made up nearly 57 percent of total cultivated acreage, a 2.4 percent increase over the year before.
 
The added value of tertiary industry constituted 35.9 percent of the city's GDP, a 2 percent increase over the year before.
 
Qidong has put a premium on innovation and the development of high-tech industry. Investments in new technology amounted to 14.5 billion yuan, making up 61.7 percent of the total investment in industry, 19 percent higher than the 2010 figure.
 
The output of the high-tech industry reached 41.3 billion yuan, contributing 41 percent of the total output of large-scale industry, a 2.3 percent surge over the year before.
 
Qidong has been aggressively attracting talent. In 2011, 11,000 professionals employed in various enterprises and 4,000 elite professionals in high-tech fields were added to the city's talent pool. Of them, 150 have a master's degree or higher diploma. Its efforts have made it a leading county for attracting talent.
 
Qidong has given priority to large seaside projects. Chongqi Bridge was put to use, while the Qidong section of the Ningqi railway and first-rate seaside highways are also under construction.


Construction inside the city's industrial parks is proceeding apace. Jianghai Industrial Park was selected to be among the first batch of pilot projects built under the joint efforts of the whole Yangtze Delta.
 
One hundred projects, each worth more than 100 million yuan, are currently under construction, including 26 projects valued at more than 500 million yuan and 18 projects valued at more than 1 billion yuan.
 
Qidong has worked to upgrade facilities and improve the ecological environment in urban and rural areas. The overall blueprints for urban planning as well as plans for such towns as Nanyang and Jinhai have been drafted.
 
There have been visible improvements to rural ecology in the past year. The whole city now has access to safe drinking water and landfills are effectively managed to prevent contamination. Green belts covering 800,000 square meters have been added to the city's landscape.
 
This past year has also marked improvements to local quality of life. The social security system now covers the whole urban and rural area, with 90 percent of farmers insured under new rural security program.
 
Some 193,000 senior citizens over the age of 60 get benefits from the city. Rates of benefits for the disabled and the employed have increased. The registered urban unemployment rate has stayed below 3 percent.
 
There has also been a boom in cultural activities. The city enacted plans to become a center of art and culture, and construction of the Yangtze River Museum began this year.
 
Though it has met or exceeded most of its goals, Qidong will not rest on its laurels, officials said. The city has ambitious goals for the next four years.
 
By 2016, it aspires to reach a landmark per capita GDP of 100,000 yuan and achieve a great transformation of the economic development pattern. In its plan, the added value of the service industry will exceed 40 percent of GDP; consumption will contribute 35 percent to economic growth, and R&D expenditures will make up 2.8 percent of GDP.
 
The city will concentrate its efforts on improving the public standard of living. The average per capita annual income of urban residents and rural residents will exceed 45,000 yuan and 25,000 yuan, respectively. The Gini Coefficient, a measure of inequality expressed as a ratio, will be kept under 0.4. Average life expectancy will exceed 78.
 
Integration of urban and rural areas will be accelerated, and a spectrum of public services will be improved. A modern public traffic network will be put in place. People in the labor force will have an average 12.2 years of education.
 
Various targets have been specified for this year. The goal for GDP growth rate has been set at 12 percent. The targeted increase rate for revenue from taxes and fees in the budget and local general budget are 25 percent and 20 percent, respectively.
 
Fixed-asset investment is expected to rise by 20 percent and the output of large-scale industry is to increase 25 percent.
 
The city plans to raise trade volume by 10 percent and reduce energy consumption per yuan of GDP by 3 percent. According to the plan, the average per capita disposable income of urban residents is set to rise by 15 percent, and net incomes of rural residents will grow 15 percent.
 
Sun Jianhua, the Party secretary of Qidong, said that "Riding on the momentum of 2011, Qidong is committed to making greater strides in 2012 and the years ahead".


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