So said Wang Xiaofeng, governor of Hainan Province, at the fourth plenary session of the Second People's Congress of Hainan, which ended recently in Haikou.

Wang said that by 2005, the GDP per capita of the island is expected to exceed 10,000 yuan (US$1,200) per year.

"This year is the first year of the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-2005) and Hainan's economic performance is of great importance to the plan," said Wang.

He added that Hainan is aiming for an economic growth rate of 8.5 percent and an 8 percent increase in fiscal revenue this year. The income of both urban and rural people will be increased and the province's environment will remain among the best across the country, he said.

Hainan has experienced rapid economic and social development in the past five years and has fulfilled the aims of the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1996-2000). Since 1998, the growth rate of Hainan's GDP has been above China's average.

He said that the province has been dealing with its real estate problem and the local financial payment risk problem and their efforts have paid off.

According to the senior official, Hainan pooled an investment of 92 billion yuan (US$11.08 billion) in fixed assets in the past five years, fulfilling infrastructure projects including new roads of 3,000 kilometers long, an expressway circling the province, improved power supply and telecom facilities, Meilan Airport, part of the Yangpu Port project and the channel infrastructure for Guangdong-Hainan Railway.

During the Ninth Five-Year Plan, the added value of Hainan's agriculture increased by 8.4 percent annually and the proportion of advantageous agriculture - such as fruit, vegetables, and aquatic products - rose from 30.3 percent to 44.3 percent of the island's agriculture production output value.

The industrial sector succeeded in curbing losses and saw a profit during the Plan, in 2000, it saw 300 million yuan (US$36 million) in profit.

The tourism industry, which is one of the pillar industries in the province also reaped a bumper harvest over the past five years. The province accommodated more than 10 million tourists, raking in an income of 7.86 billion yuan (US$946.99 million) in 2000

In the past five years, 600,000 poverty-stricken rural residents in Hainan have shaken off poverty and the number of the poverty stricken people in the province was down to 73,000.

Disposable income of urban residents was 5,358 yuan (US$645.54) on average in 2000 as compared with 4,770 yuan (US$574.70) in 1995 while net income of the rural people rose to 2,920 yuan (US$351.81) in 2000 from 1,872 yuan (US$225.54) in 1995 on average.

(China Daily 02/24/2001)