Shanghai aims to attract investments of 200 billion yuan (US$29.4 billion) into developing an advanced manufacturing industry, a government official said yesterday.

The move to attract a higher investment amount signaled a fresh government effort to help the city's core industry to maintain a rapid growth amid the current global financial crisis. The city is forecast to lure 140 billion yuan worth of industrial investments this year.

The advanced manufacturing industry includes equipment manufacturing, electronic information, automobile, petrol-chemical and other strategic sectors like ship building, manufacturing of regional jets as well as solar, biomedical and aerospace.

From the end of this year to the first quarter of next year, Shanghai-based companies will invest 100 billion yuan in about 500 projects, said Gao Yun, deputy director of Shanghai Economic and Information Technology Development Commission. Another 100 billion yuan would, hopefully, come from state-owned firms, he said during a visit to Shanghai General Motors Corp by members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Shanghai Committee yesterday.

Shanghai has formed well-developed industrial zones in suburban areas, and the output of city-level development zone and six major industrial hubs accounts for 65.4 percent of the total last year.

However, the city's industrial investment and the growth in industrial output fell for the first 10 months of this year as the global financial crunch slowed the nation's economy and spooked consumers' confidence, Gao said, adding the industrial loss is also getting worse.

"The most important thing to do to develop the advanced manufacturing industry further would be to exploit the market potential," Zhou Taitong, vice chairman of the Shanghai CPPCC, said during the meeting. "Ensuring production to be in line with market demand would be the top priority under the current environment."

Shanghai also pledged to use various measures to propel the industry.

Besides the establishment of four industrial bases in micro electric and automobile production, more efforts and resources will be poured into the aerospace industry and to build an industrial park in Lingang in Nanhui District and Changxing Island.

The city's advanced manufacturing industry has progressed remarkably over the past few years, including the assembly of the ARJ21 regional jet.

Also yesterday, Shanghai Electric Heavy Industry Group said the construction of two plants making nuclear equipment have been completed and will be put into production at the end of this year, with a 6-billion-yuan investment.

(Shanghai Daily November 26, 2008)