China's Cabinet announces plan to boost coastal Jiangsu

The State Council, China's Cabinet, has announced a plan to boost coastal regions of east China's Jiangsu Province, where growth has long lagged behind some other parts of the booming province.

Coastal Jiangsu, led by cities of Lianyungang, Yancheng and Nantong, is an important part of the Yangtze River Delta, according to an executive meeting of the State Council, presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.

The plan aims to build the region into: a traffic hub, a coastal industrial base, a good place to live as well as potential development zones as the area abounds in land reserves and mud flat.

This involves the development of the three leading cities, boosting of the infrastructure such as power grid and transportation, raising the region's fishing output and strengthening exploration of the muddy coast, partly by reclaiming land from the sea in a scientific way.

Lianyungang City is also the start point of the Europe-Asia rail line that goes through west China before finally reaching Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

China View reports that according to a statement issued after the meeting development of the region will help boost the country's less developed middle and western areas, and enhance cooperation with Central Asia, Europe and Northeast Asia.