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The integrated growth of booming economy in east China's Yangtze
River Delta with the leading financial and commercial center of
Shanghai Municipality as its axis and flanked by two economic
powerhouses of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces has become an urgent
issue to deal with, a noted CPPCC member said Wednesday.
Chen Shouyi from Zhejiang, who is currently attending the First
Session of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing, appealed to
the central government to set up a super government department to
coordinate the economic growth of the Yangtze River Delta
areas.
"Such a government department is required to help remove barriers
and speed up economic growth of different places in the delta and
beef up coordination with local development planning, construction
and use of infrastructure facilities, environmental protection and
market access," said Chen Shouyi, who is from thriving Ningbo City
of Zhejiang Province.
The Yangtze River Delta embraces 15 major cities in the region of
Shanghai Municipality, and Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. With
only one percent of China's land area and six percent of its
population, the delta boasts 18 percent of its total GDP, making it
China's largest economic bloc and the sixth largest city group in
the world.
Economic integration in the delta area has been encouraged time and
again by Chinese state and government leaders and a mechanism of
communication has been worked out by heads of Shanghai, Zhejiang
and Jiangsu. Yet the invisible power of ingrained regional
protectionism remains very strong, posing a barrier to the process
of integration.
He
acknowledged there is not any overall planning of port construction
in the delta area and but acute competition for investments from
overseas. "Such laxity incurs the overuse and excess waste of
precious resources, both natural and human, and this is therefore
detrimental to interests of all the three parties in this area,"
said Chen, who is director of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of
the China Association for Promoting Democracy.
The proposed agency could give scope to a number of coordinating
roles, he noted, including the adjustment of industrial structure,
the smooth flow of production materials and commodities as well as
construction of infrastructure facilities in the delta area.
(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2003)
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