Zhuqiao — a flying success
Shanghai Zhuqiao Airport Industrial Zone, neighboring the Pudong International Airport and specilized in export processing, storage and logistics, has achieved great progress since its open less than four years ago.
The zone is planning to develop its infrastructure, enhance the restructuring of its industries and attract more investment.
“The park was established to help spur on the local economy, drawing on advantages provided by being located so close to the airport, as well as the labor force of more than 1,000 families living on former farmland nearby,” said an administrative office director from the zone.
Zhuqiao Industrial Zone enjoys some of the same preferential tax policies as the nearby zones in Pudong, he added.
The area used to be part of an agricultural town before its open in late 2001. After a few years of construction and hard work from local officials, the processing output hit 1.2 billion yuan (US$144.15 million) in 2004, a dramatic increase of 200 percent from the previous year.
Park officials believe output will climb 67 percent this year to reach 2 billion yuan and tax revenues from the park will hit 130 million yuan this year.
The West part of the zone, occupying more than 145 hectares and home to more than 71 companies specializing in manufacturing, export processing and logistics industries, is fully developed.
Of these companies, 41 are domestic with a total investment of more than 1.48 billion yuan while the remaining 30 are foreign funded companies with more than US$ 193.9 million of contracted investment.
The East area of the zone is currently being prepared for the logistics industry, and a blueprint for this development is about to be released, hopefully attracting even more competitive companies to the zone.
Officials say the industry zone has also assisted local farmers by creating more than 6,000 job opportunities.
Flanked along Yuandong Avenue in Nanhui District, the park enjoys a favorable geographic location. It is 30 kilometers away from Shanghai’s downtown area and 25 kilometers away from the Yangshan deepwater port.
The 100-meter-wide Yuandong Avenue and the constructing Shenzhu Road run through the development zone, connecting the Outer Ring and Inner Ring roads, while the Outer Ring Road connects the Huning Hunan Expressways as well as the No. 318 and No. 312 National Highways.
The completion of the Pudong Railway Cargo Station will run through the storage and logistics development zone, helping the overall development of the zone.
In accordance with the central government’s macro control policy, the zone’s land usage was restricted to make for more efficient use of the land.
Despite the tightened rules on the use of industrial land, the airport industrial park still hopes to lure more qualified and competitive processing manufacturers to enlarge its scale as well as increase its overall prosperity.