New Measures to Promote the Integrated Development of Beihai, Qinzhou and Fangchenggang Cities

Translated Mo Tingting

The cities on the shoreline of Guangxis Beibu Gulf， including Beihai， Qinzhou and Fangchenggang （BQF）， have played an extremely important role in Guangxis opening up as they are the frontier for Chinas opening up， the international corridor facing ASEAN and the most convenient passage to the sea in western China. Since the release of the Opinions on Promoting the Integrated Development， High-Level Opening up and High-Quality Development of BQF （hereinafter referred to as the Opinions） and the Integration Development Plan of BQF of Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone （GBGEZ） （2019-2025） （hereinafter referred to as the Plan）， BQF has played its role in pioneering new approaches in the fields of transportation， industry and opening up， made remarkable achievements in promoting the development of regional integration， and greatly accelerated the opening up and development of GBGEZ.

Benign interaction to increase efficiency

On January 14， 2020， during the review of the report on the work of the Standing Committee of Peoples Congress of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region， the proposal made by the delegation from Qinzhou that the peoples government of Guangxi should coordinate local transportation department and other departments to restart the construction of Longmen Bridge and Dafengjiang Bridge to make the comprehensive transportation junction for the integrated development of BQF was approved. And relevant work for reconstruction will be started in 2020.

The reconstruction of Longmen Sea-Crossing Bridge and Dafengjiang Bridge is the epitome of the construction of interconnected traffic networks and the acceleration of integrated development of BQF.

“After the completion of the two bridges， the time consumed in going between Qinzhou Port to Beihai Airport will be greatly shortened. Meanwhile， the main urban area of BQF will be accessible within one hour， which is of great significance for speeding up the integrated development of BQF，” said Qinzhou Party Secretary Xu Yongke.

Better roads lead to a better life. Road connectivity is the precondition for the integrated development of BQF. Although bullet trains and expressways are connecting Qinzhou and Beihai， also Qinzhou and Fangchenggang， there are many breakpoints in the traffic between regions. Therefore， to accelerate the construction of integrated transportation hubs， the Plan proposes to build a new land-sea corridor in western China， an international gateway port， a featured modern logistics system， a “1130” rapid transportation network， and an intelligent green transportation system. The “1-hour commuting circle” has been realized between the main urban areas of BQF， and with the “1130” rapid transportation network gradually taking shape， BQF can be accessible to the surrounding major cities such as Nanning and Zhanjiang within 1 hour， and the main urban areas of the three cities can be accessible to the adjacent parks and ports within 30 minutes.

At present， in addition to launching the construction of the two bridges， BQF has achieved initial results in promoting the integration of ports， transportation and logistics. Among them， Beihai Port， Qinzhou Port and Fangcheng Port have been integrated into Beibu Gulf Port， and the three ports have gradually formed a positive interaction. The Qinzhou Port Customs has successfully implemented the mode of “advance declaration of export goods”， which can save about 24 hours for each order of goods， and truly realize the model of “delivery upon arrival”.

“Now transferring a container from Dongxing， Fangcheng to all parts of the country can save about RMB 3，000 to 5，000 yuan， and transit time，” said Mr. Chen， a fruit carrier in Fangchenggang.

Staggered development to boost the prototype of industrial integration

In CEC Beibu Gulf Information Harbor， about 200 well-known software and information service enterprises such as JD cloud， FINUP and Zhongkedianji have successively settled here， which has become the largest service industry cluster area in Guangxi. In Qinzhou Petrochemical Industrial Park， nearly 30 petrochemical production enterprises such as CNPC have settled here， and a number of major projects such as CNPCs 10-million-ton oil refining project， the only largest energy and chemical base in southwest China， have been completed and put into operation. In Fangchenggang Economic and Technological Development Zone， with a total investment of RMB 30 billion yuan from Hebei Jinxi Iron and Steel Group， a steel production base project featuring green， efficient and intelligent in Fangchenggang is not only beneficial to optimizing the diversification of iron and steel industry layout and industrial structure in Guangxi， but also will accelerate the building of Chinas coastal high-end steel production base in Fangchenggang.

By taking advantage of the integrated development of BQF， the construction of the modern port-centered industrial system in the three cities has achieved initial results.

With a coastline of 1，629 kilometers， BQF boasts a good foundation in developing modern port-approaching industry. However， due to the lack of effective cooperation mechanisms and systems， the industry of the three cities has not fully exploited these advantages.

Under the planning of integrated development， the three major industries of electronic information， petrochemical and new materials in Beihai City have accelerated towards the goal of building industry with a production value of RMB 100 billion yuan， and have embarked on a development path of “industry-driven， cultural-guided and open-driven”. Qinzhou has been in accordance with the Opinions and Plan， focused on the development of ethylene- and aromatic hydrocarbon-based petrochemical industry， wood pulp paper industry based on high-grade paperboard， and advanced equipment manufacturing industry based on marine equipment. Fangchenggang has aimed at the development of metallurgy and non-ferrous metals， energy， food processing， cross-border product processing and other industries， to build an industrial cluster of base metal materials in Beibu Gulf.

These effective measures can not only promote the coordinated industrial development of BQF， promote the free and orderly flow of production factors， but also comprehensively improve the overall economic force of the industrial development of BGEZ， and boost the realization of high-level open and development of BGEZ.

“As important coastal cities in BGEZ， the main battlefield of major project， the main front of industrial cluster development and the forefront of opening up and cooperation， BQF has played a leading role in the development of BGEZ and even the whole region，” said Lu Xinshe， Party Secretary of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

To plan the overall situation and promote high-quality development

There are still some bottlenecks and constraints in the implementation process， which affect the improvement of the overall strength of the BGEZ.

Lu Chongyou， Vice Chairman of the CPPCC Qinzhou Committee believed that these problems are mainly reflected in the following aspects： First， the lack of inter-departmental coordination and linkage affects the overall process of task implementation. Second， there are still many institutional obstacles in the process of promoting actual reform. Third， the lack of reward and punishment mechanisms， as well as corresponding incentive measures caused low-quality cooperation.

Therefore， he suggested that Guangxi should strengthen its organizational leadership， establish a regular communication and coordination mechanism， and strengthen the administrative synergy across cities， regions and departments. In addition， it is necessary to optimize the industrial layout of BQF， plan the overall layout of industrial projects， infrastructure， and urban and rural construction， and actively explore the mechanism of benefit sharing as well as reward and punishment， thus to promote the integration of BQF.

Li Yanqiang， Party Secretary of Fangchenggang， said that in terms of transportation connectivity， BQFs integration of ports， roads， railways， water conservancy， information and other key infrastructure has not formed effective connectivity. In terms of the industrial structure， the industrial coincidence rate of the three cities is relatively high， and the industry needs further dislocation development. In terms of capital finance and taxation， it is necessary to further integrate and give full play to the role of various capitals and funds in Guangxi， and give preferential support to the key projects of the three cities. Therefore， he suggested that efforts should be made to promote the connectivity of transportation infrastructure among the three cities， accelerate the coordinated industrial development among the three cities， and give preferential support in terms of the use of sea， land and capital.

From planning to practice， problems will be improved and solved in the construction， and the integrated development of BQF will be expected to achieve rosy development.