Dynamic Port on Alkaline Soil

-- Tangshan Seaport Economic and Technological Development Zone

By XIAO YAXIN & GAO ZIYANG

Jingtang Port is a category-one national port.

IT is hard to imagine that only 11 years ago, the broad bustling streets lined with row upon row of tall buildings and space-age style production plants in what is now the Haigang Tangshan Economic and Technological Zone was an uninhabited tract of barren land. At that time Tangshan was generally thought of as a center for coal industry but since Jingtang Port, 80 kilometers east of Tangshan City, became a national-level harbor and new industrial and trading hub the city's image has been completely transformed.

Geographical Advantages

Jingtang Port is a category one national port and site of the Tangshan Economic and Technological Zone. Chinese revolutionary pioneer Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) originally proposed building Tangshan into a city the size of New York and one equally important as a world trade passageway. His confidence in Tangshan's Jingtang Port was based on its natural advantages. Its waters are deep and do not silt up or freeze, and its 6-kilometer coastline has the potential for building 100 or so 10,000-ton berths.

The development zone's number one and number two harbors comprise sixteen 15,000 to 50,000-ton berths with actual comprehensive handling capacities of 18 million tons. This earns them a place in the top 20 Chinese seaports. Both harbors have transportation facilities for containers cargo, coal, cement, liquefied petroleum gas and spare machine parts. Navigation lines from Tangshan's Jingtang reach hundreds of Chinese ports and it maintains business relations with harbors in over 30 countries and regions.

The Tangshan Seaport Economic and Technological Development Zone short-term development plan covers 44 square kilometers and its long-term development 147.5 square kilometers. The Beijing-Harbin and Tianjin-Tangshan Expressways link to the Tangshan-Port Highway that connects Tangshan City and the Development Zone, and the Circum-Bohai Highway from Dalian to Yantai runs east to west across the zone. The Luanxian-Jingtang Port Railway extending to the Jingtang harbor connects to the Beijing-Shanhaiguan, Beijing-Qinhuangdao, Datong-Qinhuangdao and Tongxian-Tuozitou national trunk railways. This convenient transportation network makes Jingtang Port an ideal place to develop an export-oriented economy. American, German, South Korean and Singaporean companies have all come to negotiate businesses in the zone.

Friendly Investment Environment

A good investment environment is essential to the success of any development zone, and local leaders of the Haigang Economic and Technological Development Zone have paid special attention to infrastructure construction. Transportation, water and electricity supply, and telecommunication projects have all been completed, and all kinds of social and commercial services, including industrial and commercial organization, tax, finance, legislative administration, and welfare institutes have been established in the zone.

The zone administrative committee also attaches great importance to balancing modernity with a natural environment. It has overseen the planting of so many trees and plants in the zone's formerly alkaline soil that its streets now resemble a large garden of lush grass, trees and colorful flowers.

To attract more investment, the administrative committee also offers a complete service encompassing project application, approval, construction, actual operation, and a guarantee that it will take no more than three days to check projects and less than 5 days to approve them.

Developing Port-Oriented Industries

The success of a development zone depends on suitable projects that make full use of its advantages. The Haigang Economic and Technological Development Zone has used its geographical, transportation and resource advantages to develop various key projects. Over the past 11 years big projects costing more than 100 million yuan have been established in the zone.

The Tangshan Hengtong Precision Sheet Co., Ltd invested 4.5 billion yuan in building a 3 million ton cold-rolling and zinc-plating colored sheet project. Its first phase was initiated, constructed and put into operation within a year. On becoming fully operational the entire project will realize annual income revenue of 17.4 billion yuan and generate profit and tax of 3.4 billion yuan.

Living quarter in the development zone.

The Jiahua Coal Chemical Co., Ltd., co-invested by ThyssenKrupp Mining and Energy Co., Ltd.; the Capital Steel Corporation; the Beijiang Trading Co., Ltd of Tangshan; and Beijing Coking Plant at a total investment of 3.198 billion yuan, has an annual production capacity of 3 million tons of coking coal. On going into operation the project will realize an annual sales income of more than 2.5 billion yuan.

The natural attraction of the zone prompted one Hong Kong merchant to invest US $29.5 million in a 1.5 square kilometer tourism area in the development zone which links it to the surrounding seaside resorts of Beidaihe, Nandaihe and Golden Coast.

By 2007, the Jingtang Port will be a modern international trading harbor with developed industries. People working and living in the development zone are optimistic about its future success on the international market.

Tangshan Information Tangshan City is in the center of the Bohai-Rim Economic Circle Belt. The Yanshan Mountains are to the north, the Bohai Sea to the south, Qinhuangdao City of Hebei Province to the east and neighboring Beijing and Tianjin to the west. It is a heavy industrial city with 100 years of history. Covering a total space of 13,472 square kilometers, Tangshan has a 196.5 kilo meter-long coastline and a population of 7.04 million. The city proper has an area of 3,874 square kilometers and a population of 2.9327 million. Tangshan's consistent 20 billion yuan GNP puts it in the top 25 Chinese cities. Its 110.2 billion yuan GNP in 2002 accounted for more than one-sixth of Hebei Province' entire GNP. The Tangshan Economic and Technological Development Zone is in the center of the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan Economic Network and the Circum-Bohai Economic Belt. It is 233 kilometers from Beijing and 208 kilometers from Tianjin. To date, it has introduced 345 investment projects and formed its pillar industries of machinery-building, chemical industry, and logistics while simultaneously developing its trade and commerce. Its GDP in 2003 was 600 million yuan, with 220 million yuan of revenue. Between January and June 2004, it realized a GDP of 480 million yuan and revenue of 229 million yuan and a sixth listing among the 33 development zones of Hebei Province.