Management

Gaoyao Special: City continues to clinch contracts

By Li Sheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-27 07:54

Scenery in Gaoyao, an eco-friendly city in Guangdong province. Photos Provided to China Daily

Recently signed contracts will bring four projects worth $36.6 million to the city of Gaoyao after deals were clinched during a mid-August promotional campaign in Taiwan.

The contracts came on the heels of a massive glass bottle factory that just began operation in the city's Jintao Industrial Park.

With an investment of 1.05 billion yuan from a State-owned enterprise in Shenzhen, the 500,000-ton capacity facility is expected to become the nation's largest beer bottle maker.

"The ever improving investment environment and the efficient government services of Gaoyao built our confidence," said a senior executive with the glass bottle firm. "We will accelerate our construction so that the project will go into full operation as soon as possible."

Liang Jing, mayor of Gaoyao, said he appreciated the vote of approval.

"Both the contacts and the bottle project mean that our endeavors to secure investors are paying off and speak volumes about investors' confidence in our efforts," he noted.

The mayor said the city aims to secure $290 million in contracted foreign investment and committed foreign capital in excess of $170 million this year.

Plans also call for domestic investment surpassing 5 billion yuan in 2010. Efforts include city-sponsored promotional campaigns on March 28 and Sept 28 each year.

Investors signed contracts worth 2.56 billion yuan for 21 projects during the event in March, while 28 projects worth 2.22 billion yuan began construction.

As well, 23 projects with a combined investment of 1.95 billion yuan became operational.

The event on Tuesday will see an even more bumper harvest.

He said the local government is seeking projects that will help in the transformation of Gaoyao's industrial structure. As well, "existing investors are encouraged to expand their investment scale".

Fifty-two existing operations increased their investment by 2.85 billion yuan from January to August this year, official statistics indicate.

He said the city government will improve the infrastructure in the Jindu, Jintao, Jinsheng and Western District industrial parks and elsewhere to improve urban facilities and enhance overall quality of life.

The municipal government will hold more campaigns nationwide and in regions overseas to promote the city's investment climate and invite potential investors to study the investment feasibility themselves.

The city attracted almost $175 million in contracted foreign capital and $113 million in committed investment in the first seven months of this year, increases of 36.2 percent and 25.9 percent respectively from a year ago.