Nansha, Shunde to build cooperation demonstration zone

Cai Chaolin, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Guangzhou Municipal Committee and party secretary of the CPC Nansha District Committee, led a delegation to the Country Garden Robot Valley and Xijiao Community Village Industrial Park in Foshan's Shunde district, Guangdong province, on May 22.

The Framework Agreement between Nansha District of Guangzhou and Shunde District of Foshan for the Construction of the Guangzhou-Foshan Co-city Cooperation Demonstration Zone was signed at the end of the last year, after which the two neighborsacross the river accelerated the pace of cooperation.

Guo Wenhai, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Foshan Municipal Committee and party secretary of the CPC Shunde District Committee, said that Shunde upgraded the village-level industrial park to 20,000mu (13.33km²). And for the first time, the concept of "Shungang Town(cooperation demonstration zone) " was floated.

On the east side of "Shungang Town", is Lanhe town in Nansha district.Shunde hopes that the town will cooperate with it in urban planning.

"'Shungang Town is located in the core area of the Shunde Central Area. It has the most complete urban supporting facilities in Shunde, and other ecological resources such as Shunfeng Mountain Park and Lijiasha Waterfront Greenway are also located in the area," said He Xiangwei, director of the Shunde District Development and Reform Bureau.

"The track route in the planned area of the Shungang Town project is intensive, and it will strive to become a technological cooperation platform for Shungang and a high-quality living service area in the Greater Bay Area, becoming the leading area for Shunde to connect with Hong Kong and Macao," he added.

It is estimated that Shungang Town will consist of four districts including "Shunde Port Area", "Shunde Hub Station Area", "Financial Town Area" and "Southern Wisdom Valley".

The Shunde Port Area with a planned area of 1,200 muis positioned as a high-quality living area with MTR, free trade, science and technology innovation, and international cultural and sports consumption experience.

Shunde plans to build a Shunde Hub Station Area with an area of 5,250 mu. The area will be positioned as a comprehensive transportation hub for the west bank of the Pearl River. It will collect special colleges, international incubation laboratories, international communities, talent bases and special education facilities.In the future, a financial town area with a total area of about 1,500 acres will also be built. 

Peng Congen, deputy secretary of the Shunde District Party Committee and the district head, said that the construction of the Zhaoqing-Shunde-Nansha intercity rail transit was reserved in the area of Shungang Town. After communicating with the relevant departments, the transit line, originally designed for a 180 km/h top speed, can be improved to handle 300 km/h.

“We hope to achieve 'Shunde Incubation + Nansha Landing' in the industry. In addition, we will form a competitive force in planning and construction, participate in the construction of the Greater Bay Area and promote social co-governance and ecological co-construction," Guo Wenhai said.

In addition to the high-standard simultaneous planning of adjacent areas, another cooperation hotspot for Nansha and Shunde is industry.

Shunde, as an important area of China's manufacturing industry, showed strong interest in the innovative resources of Nansha district.

Guo Wenhai admits that Shunde's industrial transformation is urgently needed to find innovative resources, and Nansha District is a reliable arm of Shunde.

“The total import and export volume of Shunde District last year was nearly 200 billion yuan ($ 29.00 billion), of which nearly 30 percent came from Guangzhou Nansha Port. Now we want to connect several towns and ports in Shunde. For example, after Shunde quarantine inspection, goods can be exempted from customs clearance in Nansha Port, ”Guo Haiwen said.

“Enterprises will choose the place with the lowest logistics cost. In the future, Nansha Port will inevitably be the one with the lowest logistics cost in the surrounding area. We will actively coordinate this matter with Shunde,”Cai noted.

Guangzhou Nansha is a state-level pilot free tradezone and Foshan Shunde is a reform and innovation experimental zone of high-quality development system in Guangdong province.