With an area of 1,160 square kilometers, or one sixth of Shanghai's total area, the island is expected to become the city's largest leisure and tourism attraction and a prime green food production base over the next 10 years, said Gu Guolin, head of Chongming County.

"Chongming should make the most of its ecological advantages in its future development," Gu said during the Fourth Plenary Session of the 11th Shanghai's People's Congress.

Lying to the northeast of Shanghai without a direct transportation link with the city, the island generated a gross domestic product (GDP) volume totalling 5.45 billion yuan (US$656.6 million) last year, and its average per capita GDP lingered around US$1,040, almost one fourth the average of Shanghai.

Through introducing environmentally friendly projects like green agriculture and biological technology industries, the island will gradually phase out traditional industries that pollute the local environment, according to Gu. The traditional industrial sector currently takes up over 60 percent of Chongming's overall GDP.

The tertiary and agricultural sectors account for 35 percent and 5 percent of the island's GDP volume, which is a waste of its rich natural resources, say analysts.

"Top priority should be given to reinforcing Chongming's environmental advantages to effect the harmonious development of life, production and ecology," Gu said.

To achieve their goal, the island will endeavor to increase its "living" infrastructure over the coming years, which mainly involves the planting of more trees, in order to allure more green investors and consumers.

Meanwhile, Chongming will focus on the construction of its Dongtan Reserve for migrant birds, the Dongping State Forest Park and the Wetland Park in the next five years, he said, predicting that the island will become a back garden for Shanghai.

In June last year, Shanghai kicked off a 3.79 billion yuan (US$456.6 million) project to set up a modern agricultural park in Chongming, which occupies more than 84.7 square kilometers and is expected to become Shanghai's flagship environmentally friendly agricultural establishment.

There are also plans to build an expressway connecting Shanghai with northern Jiangsu Province via the island.

The 20-kilometer long expressway will cross the Yangtze River and possibly be built by the end of 2005 at a cost of 8 billion yuan (US$963 million).

(China Daily 02/28/2001)