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Optimism reigns as Tianfu gains new status
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THE Tianfu New Area is seeing higher expectation, better policy support and faster infrastructure construction these days, weeks after it joined the league of state-level development zones.
The State Council, China’s Cabinet, approved establishment of the Tianfu New Area in mid-October, credentialing it as a national development zone. It joins such predecessors as Shanghai’s Pudong New Area, Tianjin’s Binhai New Area, Chongqing’s Liangjiang New Area and Shaanxi’s Xixian New Area.
“It is a natural and logical decision to raise Tianfu New Area’s status,” said Deng Ling, a professor of economics at Sichuan University. “We need another ‘pole’ to balance and optimize the growth of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone, and the Tianfu New Area fits into that role.”
The 1,578-square-kilometer Tianfu New Area, literally meaning “a heavenly residence,” crosses the cities of Chengdu, Meishan and Ziyang, involving seven counties and 37 towns and villages. Among it, areas of 1,293 square kilometers are in the jurisdiction of Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province. They include the southern part of Chengdu High-tech Zone, Longquanyi District, Jianyang City, Shuangliu County, Xinjin County, Pengshan County and Renshou County.
The plan of setting up the area, initiated in 2011, is to build a modern international urban area suitable for residence, industry and commerce. With a focus on advanced manufacturing and high-end service clusters, the Tianfu New Area is expected to become one pole in the “dual-core” of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone, together with the Liangjiang New Area in Chongqing, which received approval in 2010.
The Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone is part of China’s broader strategy of developing the western part of the country to unlock the growth potential of the interior areas and balance development between the eastern and the western parts in the country.
It is also a core in China’s vision to grow the economic belt along the Yangtze River and revive the ancient Silk Road.
“Tianfu New Area is a place to achieve coordinated growth of modern industries, modern life and modern city,” said Chen Xiushan, a professor of regional economics at Renmin University of China in Beijing. “It should provide strong support for the construction of a western economic development highland and economic center.”
Chen said it’s not only a victory of Chengdu to demonstrate its richness in business and natural resources, but also a victory for western China to gain more weight in the country’s development strategy.
A new, dynamic and powerful growth engine is taking shape. After three years of construction, the Tianfu New Area is now home to Sichuan’s busiest airport, biggest exhibition center, best software park and the largest base providing financial services. The construction of a sophisticated traffic network incorporating railways, highways and subways has been accelerated and is expected to be completed within the year.
A number of multinational corporations and their research and development agencies have gathered in the Tianfu New Area. Key projects including the Singapore-Sichuan Hi-tech Innovation Park and Chengdu Financial Headquarters Business District have been completed, while a batch of ecological programs to strengthen protection of historic and cultural cities and towns as well as landscapes have been launched.
With the transformation into a state-level zone, the Tianfu New Area will gain more national and global attention. It will also have more flexibility to innovate management and acquire bigger policy support.
The area is going to have assets to explore and experiment on the route of urbanization and industrialization. Indeed, local government has made some attempts such as the negative list approach, filing-driven management and green passage for cargo to try the most advanced way of governing.
On October 28, the Tianfu New Area announced the new policies and guidelines for investment. It said companies in the area will receive tailored services, and can expect easier access to funds, information and some hardware support in a period of up to five years.
The construction of the Tianfu New Area has now become the top priority on the work agenda of the Chengdu government, which forged a special team last year to administer the growth of the area within its jurisdiction.
According to the blueprint, the construction will focus on the building of “one high-tech park, one central business district and one greenbelt” that reflects Chengdu’s definition of a modern area that integrates urban and rural space and provides quality business and life.
The Tianfu New Area is designed to build strength in new energy, new materials, environmental protection, biotechnology, information technology, advanced equipment manufacturing and other emerging industries.
The area will make use of ecological resources and preserve more than 10 lakes within it that span 28 square kilometers, four times the size of West Lake in Hangzhou. People living in the area hope to see more job opportunities, better housing and improved public services and facilities.
“It feels like we are building a dream city,” said Song Shou, vice president of Sinoma International Engineering Co Ltd. “It gives us one more reason to come to Chengdu, for business and for living.”
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