Weifang vows to establish new economic drivers

Hydraulic manufacturing plant and healthcare park identified as key projects to support Shandong province

The Weifang High-tech Industrial Development Zone has vowed to push forward construction of key projects to support Shandong province's efforts to replace old economic development drivers with new ones in 2019.

This year, the zone will continue to strengthen its industrial development and support construction of 183 key projects with overall investment of 120.4 billion yuan ($18.01 billion). It will also develop industrial clusters with national influence, according to local government.

Companies such as Fortune Global 500-listed company Weichai and smart products developer Goertek will be beneficiaries of the government's latest efforts.

Construction of Weichai's high-end hydraulic products' basic parts manufacturing site has been progressing well in the past few months.

The first phase, covering 43,000 square meters, will combine production workshops, logistics warehouse and research and testing centers under one roof. It will be home to 79 sets of high-end hydraulic equipment, according to Weichai.

The second phase, with a planned area of 25,000 sq m, will be a new energy power research and development site. When the two phases' construction is finished, the company will be capable of producing another 100,000 sets of products with annual income of 4 billion yuan, said the company.

Weichai's project manager Mao Wei said that mechanisms have been established and the project management team hosts meeting every day to ensure the daily tasks can be completed and problems can be solved immediately.

According to local officials, Shandong province's Weifang, where the zone is situated, will have a world class hydraulic products manufacturing center that can support China's agricultural equipment, machinery and offshore oil production industries after Weichai's project is completed.

Aiming to support the construction of key projects, the local government has established supporting teams, formed by key government employees, to ensure those projects can progress smoothly.

Apart from Weichai's project, construction of Weifang Zhongshi healthcare industrial park is also on the fast track.

The project, involving 510 million yuan investment, will have six workshops, a quality testing center and facilities such as a warehouse. It will achieve 10 million yuan tax per year upon completion. The new factory will be capable of producing two billion traditional Chinese medicine-based tablets and two billion chemical drugs tablets.

"We will join hands with more strategic partners to strengthen Zhongshi's competitiveness after the project is completed," said Liu Hongyu, a project manager in Weifang Zhongshi Pharmaceutical.

"We believe project construction is the key for us to push forward quality economic development. We will set long-term development plans, strengthen services and establish and make good use of mechanisms to support project construction to develop the zone into a demonstration area to replace old economic development engines with new ones," said Sun Wenfeng, director of the zone's economic development bureau.

Zhuang Jian contributed to this story.