Quick Connections

A year after Yangtze Delta integration plan was approved, roads, railways and data sharing make progress By Wang Jun

A serene West Lake looks on urban buildings in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province in east China, on June 6, 2019

Donghang Road, a section of the border road connecting Shanghai and Jiangsu Province in east China, though not long, is an important one. Once completed, the nearly 2.5-km road will reduce the traffic pressure on other trunk expressways and highways in the region and improve the land link between Shanghai and Jiangsu.

After its scheduled completion by the end of this September, the distance between the Fenhu Hi-Tech Development Zone in Jiangsu, a key area for investment and manufacturing, and Shanghai will be shortened by 5 km. Luo Weiwei, President of Innoscience (Suzhou) Semiconductor, which is based in the hi-tech zone, is looking forward to that. “It will connect us better with the airports in Shanghai,” she toldPeople’s Daily. “Based on the semiconductor industry in the Yangtze River Delta, we will build a cross-provincial industry chain in this region.”

Transport networks

Convenient transportation is one of the prerequisites of integrated regional development. In June 2018, the transportation authorities of Shanghai, Jiangsu and two more eastern provinces, Zhejiang and Anhui, signed an agreement to connect their deadend inter-provincial highways. Among the 17 such highways in the region, six run between Shanghai and Jiangsu.

Two years ago, President Xi Jinping announced at the First China International Import Expo in Shanghai that the government will support the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region, making it a national strategy. Subsequently, the Report on the Work of the Government tabled by Premier Li Keqiang at the annual meeting of the national legislature in 2019 said integrated development of the delta would be upgraded into a national strategy with an overall development plan.

In December 2019, the Outline of Integrated Regional Development of the Yangtze River Delta was published, emphasizing the pursuit of balanced and highquality development. The region, comprising Shanghai and the three eastern provinces, is twice the size of the Republic of Korea and the richest region in the country.

It will develop in tandem with the Belt and Road Initiative and other domestic integrated development plans like the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development area and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. A flourishing Yangtze River Delta will help improve the overall layout of China’s reform and opening up.

The railway networks in the area are also being spruced up. On May 30, a section of the Nantong-Shanghai Railway connecting Shanghai with Nantong, a city in Jiangsu, started trial operation. This railway will connect three more cities in Jiangsu to the delta’s railway networks, besides shortening travel time between Nantong and Shanghai.

More high-speed railways will establish an inter-city transport circle, connecting cities half an hour to three hours away. Railway development in the region has a planned investment of 87.03 billion yuan ($12.28 billion) to put more than 1,000 km of new railways into operation by this year.

S h a n g h a i J i e z h e n g C o r p o r a t e Management is a commercial service provider based in Shanghai with a branch in Zhejiang. It is now setting up another branch in the province. Yang Xiaoyan, a manager at the company, toldEconomic Dailythat they decided to expand after the local governments in the four areas facilitated administrative procedures through information sharing.

A company can now open a branch in any of these areas but get the registration and other paperwork done in any other place in the region that is convenient for them.

“We are discussing how to break the administrative boundaries in the region. Data sharing is imperative to realize this goal,” Liu Wei, deputy head for the ecology and planning group of the Yangtze River Delta Ecological and Green Integrated Development Demonstration Zone, toldEconomic Daily.

Advantages and challenges

According to Ying Xiwen, Deputy Director of the regional economics research center of China Minsheng Bank Research Institute, the Yangtze River Delta and the Greater Bay Area are the blocs in China with the most potential to become world-level city clusters.

“The city cluster in the Yangtze River Delta has excellent location, profound history and culture, high population density and an advanced manufacturing industry,” Ying toldInternational Financial News. Also, it has a pleasant climate, sound business atmosphere and well-developed traffic networks.

He said compared with other worldlevel city clusters, the delta has potential in sectors like services, science and technological innovation, culture and education. Shanghai’s growth as an international center of economy, finance, trade, shipping and science and technology innovation will also spur on coordinated development of the three provinces.

“The Internet industry, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing and other new technologies are creating new space for high-quality development of the region,” Ying said. Construction of new infrastructure, which has huge potential, will become an important driver for the next round of growth, he predicted. Further market-based reform and other reform measures will provide favorable policies for the development of the delta. However, with the coronavirus pandemic bringing uncertainties, institutional and further coordination between the four areas in planning and developing infrastructure, industrial layouts, land resources and public service platforms is key to integrated development, according to Zhou Xiaomen, research division chief at the Development Research Center of Shanghai Municipal People’s Government.

Zhou toldInternational Financial Newsthe region should ensure coordinated development among its industries to avert new production capacity surplus. Last but not the least, the region also needs to exchange strategies for industrial development and investment promotion.