The Mayor of Tianjin, Huang Xingguo, addressed the first panel discussion at 18th Asian Corporate Conference and put across the message that Tianjin and its Binhai New Area carry high expectations not only as the next growth engine for China, but also as a model of sustainable development.

He said, ‘Right after Shenzhen and Shanghai’s Pudong, Tianjin is earmarked as the future portal city of China, a high-profile modern manufacturing and research and development hub, north China’s international shipping and logistics center and last but not least, a green city suitable for human habitation.’

In line with the national strategy for the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), Tianjin has set a bold target to trim per unit GDP energy consumption by more than 20% by 2010.

Taking progress so far as a guide that is possible. Last year the city succeeded in meeting its energy efficiency and pollution reduction targets, with per unit GDP energy consumption dropping by 4.4%.

Tianjin is now working with Singaporean counterparts to build a demonstration eco-city project in its Binhai New Area rising from saline land in an area that desperately lacks water.

Huang Xingguo said, ‘We will try to be bold and innovative enough to turn the eco-city into a sustainable model project.’

Tianjin has the lowest water consumption and electricity use per unit of GDP in the nation, as well as the highest rate of water recycling.

Water is so scare in Tianjin that its per capita water availability is only one-fifteenth the national average.

Huang Xingguo said, ‘We give top priority to water conservation. A city water usage plan has been worked out with regulating indices for the city and its industries in water consumption.’
Source: China Daily

China’s State Council, the country’s Cabinet, has approved a new bonded zone in Tianjin, a further move to boost the opening-up strategy in the northern coastal municipality.

An official from the Tianjin Binhai New Area said the bonded zone covers an area of 195.63 hectares at the Airport Industrial Park.

The zone will enjoy favorable policies in taxation and foreign exchange policies. It will offer comprehensive services in international shipping, distribution, purchase, transit trade and export processing businesses.

The official said the preferential policies would benefit plants in the new bonded zone, including the Airbus A320 assembly plant that was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission in June 2006. It is expected to start operation in August.

The zone will attract more aviation manufacturing enterprises and help establish an air freight center in north China.
Source: China Daily

Tianjin has historically been a very industrial city building on its advantage of also being a port.

Tianjin has been able to leverage the foreign direct investment brought through TEDA (Tianjin Economic Development Area which is, in fact, five separate zones working as one) to develop the city.

There are now over 18,000 foreign invested companies within Tianjin. Tianjin is one of China’s strongest second tier cities, and being within an hour and a half of Beijing (soon to be 27 minutes by bullet train), it is becoming more and more attractive to firms who are looking to move out of Beijing for lower costs of production.

Now the economic development zone is getting towards saturation (and the traffic in Tianjin is horrendous) the new developments are happening in the new Binhai area. This has a planned area of 2,270 km², a coastline of 153 km and a resident population of 1.4 million, Tianjin New Coastal District lies in the center of the Circum-Bohai Region and the eastern seaboard of Tianjin.

Tianjin shows how the future of a economic development zone can be supported by the government with educational institutions: there are now 37 institutions of higher learning at all levels, 159 academy of sciences and research institutes, 7 key state-level labs, 10 key ministry-level labs, 10 state-level research centers for engineering technology, 27 state-level and ministry-level testing centers, and there were over 80,000 college graduates last year and an additional 30,000 graduates of other technical schools.
Sources: All Roads Lead to China

The first phase of Tianjin Dongjiang Bonded Harbor Area, China’s largest free trade harbor, came into operation on December 11. This is the bonded harbor area, which covers an area of 4 sq km. It includes warehouses, container terminals and processing and logistics zones, and involved an investment of RMB6.6 billion ($906.59 million).

The rest of the 6-sq-km area is under development and is due to be operational by 2010.

Xu Fu, a professor at the Tianjin-based Nankai University, said, ‘The harbor area is sort of an engine that could drive up the regional economy and business in Tianjin, especially the Tianjin Binhai New Area.’

In 1994, the Tianjin government proposed the idea of the Tianjin Binhai New Area, and the central government approved it as the nation’s third regional economy facilitator, after the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and Pudong New District in Shanghai.

Tianjin Port is now China’s fourth-largest and the sixth-largest worldwide.

In 2006, it handled 258 million tons in cargo. It plans to increase its cargo and container handling capacity up to 400 million tons and 12 million standard containers, TEUs, by 2010.

Professor Xu Fu said, ‘In China, the idea of bonded harbor areas comes at an opportune time.’

Some experts believe that compared to tariff-free zones, bonded harbor areas provide higher quality and more cost-effective services to exporters and importers because harbor areas, as their name suggests, are built much closer to ports. They are also equipped with tariff-free logistics parks, export processing bases and commodity showrooms.
Source: China Daily