Guangxi, a frontier region inhabited by many ethnic groups. Guangxi will participate in the development with an unusual boldness of vision. As early as in 1992, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council made the great decision to "give full play to Guangxi as the access to the sea in southwest China." Thanks to its position as the only coastal and frontier ethnic autonomous region in China and having the most direct and most convenient access to the sea in southwest China, Guangxi is destined to play an important role in the nation's western development. The People's Government of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has mapped out preliminary guidelines for the implementation of the national strategy of developing the western areas. Specifically,

l  Constructing and improving the southwest’s access to the sea through intensified infrastructure construction;

l  Fundamentally changing the production and living conditions in poverty-stricken areas while paying attention to environmental protection;

l  Fostering and formulating a number of pillar (advantageous) industries through tapping resources in hydropower, nonferrous metals and tourism, and further transforming resources advantages to economic advantages; and

l  Furthering the reform and opening up through the accelerated development of science, technology and education, and actively exploring new thinking, new ways and new mechanisms to speed up the development.

Li stressed that accelerating infrastructure construction is an important basis for the development of the western areas. Guangxi should improve transportation and other infrastructure construction centering round the access to the sea. It should accelerate water conservancy construction and the construction of urban and rural power grids as well projects in relation to communications, radio and TV, urban infrastructure and small town construction.

Guangxi has initially formulated a batch of important projects for implementing the western development strategy, which cover the following aspects:

I). Transportation facilities, including four key points:

1. Highway--mainly two high-grade highways from Nanning to Youyiguan and from Guizhou's Shuiren to Nanning, and two expressways from Guilin to Wuzhou and from Nanning to Guangzhou.

2. Coastal ports--mainly Fangcheng Port's 11-14 berths and the 50,000-ton entry lane, Beihai Port's third- and fourth-phase projects and the second-phase project of an international passenger terminal, and Qinzhou Port's second- and third-phase projects and entry lane.

3. Railways--mainly the eastern section of the Luoyang-Zhanjiang Railway.

4. Pipelines--actively seeking the state support to the natural gas pipelines in the Beibu Gulf.

II). Water conservancy facilities. The focus will be on the following projects:

l  Baise key water control project;

l  Irrigation works in the northwestern mountain areas;

l  Irrigation works at large and medium reservoirs;

l  Flood-control works at key cities including Nanning, Wuzhou, Liuzhou and Guilin in the Pearl River system;

l  Comprehensive drought prevention project and water conservancy irrigation works in Guizhong;

l  Flood-control works in key sections of the Xijiang River, and village and township water supply projects.

III). Basic urban facilities and small towns, mainly a group of urban public facilities involving road building, water supply, garbage and waste water disposal. In the near term, seeking state support for projects such as the express loop road in the city of Nanning, the capital city.

IV). Environmental protection and returning farmland to forest and pasture, including the following major projects:

l  Returning farmland to forest and pasture;

l  The Pearl River shelter-forest project;

l  Construction of key eco-environment counties;

l  Afforestation in rocky areas;

l  The shelter-forest system in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River within the boundaries of Guangxi;

l  Key projects of soil and water conservation; and

l  Environmental protection projects (for example, water supplementation and integrated treatment on the Lijiang River and acid rain treatment in Liuzhou).

V). Resources development and structural adjustment involving eight aspects:

l  Development project combining hydropower and electricity;

l  Tourism;

l  Food industry;

l  Modern agriculture;

l  Strategic restructuring, reorganization and transformation of traditional advantageous industries;

l  High and new technologies; and

l  Large coastal industrial parks such as the Guangxi Information and Internet Project.

VI). Science, education and health. Actively seeking state support in some key industries for the establishment of engineering research and technological development centers, aiding poverty-stricken areas through advanced technology, and applying IT technologies to education, such as employing distance education.

close window