Binhai New Area has seen high-quality development in recent years, with local authorities saying they have implemented the nation’s important strategies and achieved active progress.
The area has deeply integrated into Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cooperative development by actively serving neighboring Beijing and the Xiongan New Area in Hebei province.
It has introduced more than 2,900 projects from Beijing and set an examplary role for cooperation between Beijing and Tianjin, by making the Binhai-Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park a priority, according to the administrative committee of Binhai.
The new area has also actively integrated into the Belt and Road Initiative by opening three freight train routes connecting China and Europe. To date, 570 trains have carried 61,000 TEUs, or twenty-foot equivalent units, of cargo between Europe and Tianjin, according to local statistics.
The area has attracted a slew of Fortune Global 500 enterprises to invest in more than 400 projects and boasts eight cutting-edge industries including aerospace, automobiles and equipment manufacturing, electronic information and new materials.
The automobile and equipment manufacturing sector has attracted automakers, new-energy vehicle companies and related upstream and downstream businesses, with an output value of 211.28 billion yuan ($30.85 billion).
The electronic information industry boasts noted companies including Samsung and Tencent, with an output value worth 143.85 billion yuan. The aerospace sector is represented by the Airbus general assembly plant, which has delivered more than 350 Airbus A320 planes.
The area’s authorities have insisted on emphasizing reform and opening-up. Binhai was one of the pioneers in the country to reform its administrative approval system, so that many hundreds of items requiring review from 18 departments can be dealt with within one department.
The authorities have put the benefit of its people at the center of the area’s development. Binhai has implemented 20 projects annually for improving local residents’ lives in recent years. It has created more than 120,000 jobs every year and promoted a comprehensive social security system.
Zhang Yuzhuo, Party chief of the new area, said that with rapid and healthy economic growth, Binhai was planning to achieve a high-quality development.
He said the area will promote upgrading of its traditional industries-such as petrochemicals engineering and metallurgy-and the expansion of strategic emerging sectors including intelligent manufacturing, advanced equipment manufacturing, new-energy vehicles and new-generation information technology.
Zhang added that improving the business environment is crucial for high-quality development and the local government should focus its efforts on offering better services and reducing companies’ costs.
“If Binhai New Area is compared to an automobile, institutional reform is the powerful engine that keeps it running fast and stable,” Zhang said.
Tianjin’s seaport system, for instance, has seen its institutional reform progressing smoothly. Tianjin Port, with most of its wharfs located in the area, is a key strategic resource in the coastal city and one of its biggest advantages in serving the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cooperative development strategy.
Binhai-based Tianjin Port (Group)-the major but not the only port company in Tianjin-signed agreements in February this year with other operators in the municipality for the integration of all the habors and wharfs.
As agreed, Tianjin Port (Group)-which operates the port areas of Beijiang, Nanjiang, Dongjiang and Gaoshaling-will set up coordination centers in the Lingang and Nangang areas, to combine all the port resources and offer streamlined services for ship owners and other businesses.
Decentralized management of port resources used to cause disordered competition to a certain extent, and had an adverse influence on the service efficiency of Tianjin’s port industry. Now, the integration move is expected to solve these problems, said an executive at Tianjin Port (Group).
