Rizhao, a coastal city in Shandong province, could become a window to the West as a city linked by rail across the breadth of the Eurasian landmass, but its port is the engine powering its growth

"We should take advantage of our geographical location and make efforts to play a more important role in the China-Japan-Korea economic circle," said Yang Jun, secretary of the Rizhao municipal Party committee.

A railway linking Europe and Asia - connecting far to the west to Rotterdam in the Netherlands - began operation in the 1990s. Countries along its route want to develop it into an economic corridor.

Rizhao ranks ninth among mainland ports that have a capacity of 100 million tons, Yangjun said.

Total investment in port construction over the past five years increased its capacity to 130.63 million tons - 5.4 times its 2002 level - with more than 20 berths built that can accommodate 10,000-ton ships to carry ore and containers.

In 2007, several key projects were launched in the city, including the first phase of a plant to make Weiya car engines with the investment of $490 million and the second phase of the $4.4 billion Hua Neng power station.

Other new projects include the Huahai shipbuilding site and Jinhu chemical plant.

Other industries in the area include steel, food processing, machinery and petroleum chemicals.

In 2007, 38 large enterprises generated 65.6 percent of the revenue in the city, 81.3 percent of its taxes and 80.9 percent of registered profits.

Rizhao is now accelerating development of a modern logistics industry to transport, store and distribute cargo such as coal, ores, grain, oil and construction materials to keep up with the port's handing capacity, which ranks at the top for all of China in cement, grains and ores.

The government is now leading the way to improve environmental management through controlling pollution at its source and adopting modern production technology.

The city has declined 46 polluting projects, including four valued at more than 100 million yuan.

The local government has improved parks and emphasizes recycling by enterprises. Rizhao is now planning an ecological industrial system for the city.

It is also a good locale for leisure, entertainment and summer sports. The city has hosted world-class sporting events, including a yachting championship, national water sports competition and cultural events. More than 12 million tourists visited Rizhao in 2007.

The city plans to complete construction of 40 new berths in the next five years requiring an investment of 8 billion yuan, when the annual throughput of the port is set to rise to 200 million tons.

Annual cargo handling capacity is projected to rise to 240 million tons by 2012, when it is also expected to handle 2.2 million TEU containers.

"We hope that the GDP of the city will reach 130 billion yuan with the average annual growth of 15 percent." Yang said.

(China Daily 03/06/2008 page15)