EYESHENZHEN  /   Opinion

A new dimension for development

Writer: Wu Guangqiang  | Editor: Jane Chen  | From:  | Updated: 2019-01-07

On Dec. 16, Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone was officially inaugurated, marking the beginning of a higher stage for cooperation between Shenzhen and Shanwei, a city 110 kilometers east of Shenzhen.

The inter-city cooperation dates back to May 2011, when Guangdong approved the establishment of the zone and the operation of the Shenshan CPC Committee and Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone Administration Committee.

Yet the updated version of the cooperation is not a simple upgrade; it is a strategic move not only to further the development of both Shenzhen and Shanwei, but that of Guangdong and China as a whole.

As approved by the provincial authorities, the special cooperation zone is an external agency of the Guangdong Provincial CPC Committee and Guangdong Provincial Government that enjoys the administrative power of a prefecture-level city and is jointly managed by the cities of Shenzhen and Shanwei. Shenzhen is responsible for the economic management and construction, while Shanwei is responsible for land requisition, relocation and social affairs.

In some sense, the zone is an extension of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (SSEZ). Therefore, its success will be of great significance for Shenzhen, Shanwei and Guangdong.

Covering an area of 468 square kilometers, the zone consists of four townships: Ebu, Xiaomo, Houmen and Chishi in Haifeng County, with 76,000 permanent residents.

Some have called the zone an economic enclave of Shenzhen. The appropriateness of the name aside, the establishment of the zone is aimed at overcoming the bottleneck constraining Shenzhen’s growth.

After 40 years’ rapid development, SSEZ has risen as a metropolitan city with a highly developed high-tech industry, financing and commerce, but it has also hit a snag: a severe shortage of land. By now, only 54.62 square kilometers of land is left for industrial development.

The land crunch has caused multiple problems for Shenzhen, including rocketing property prices, which is harming Shenzhen’s competitiveness.

For years Shenzhen has been mulling over moving some of its manufacturing out of the city, but the ideal destination was not easy to find. Dongguan and Huizhou are Shenzhen’s closest neighbors, but neither of them has surplus land to absorb Shenzhen’s industrial expansion, both cities are growing fast in their own right and their own limited land resources are the last thing they can spare.

By comparison, Shanwei is the most suitable choice to fit the bill. With sufficient land reserves, the zone can provide a vast area for the development of the advanced manufacturing, modern service, tourism and eco-agriculture industries.

The location of the zone will also facilitate the formation of a large economic circle connecting Shenzhen to Shanwei and other cities in the Pearl River Delta area. With Shanwei and Huizhou within a 100-km radius and Meizhou, Jieyang, Shantou, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Dongguan within a 200-km radius, the zone will serve as a transportation hub.

A high-speed rail will be built to link Shenzhen with the central district of the zone. The rail will start at Xili Station and end at Shanwei East Station.

Like Shenzhen, Shanwei enjoys a long coastline, which constitutes natural advantages for shipping, water transport and port construction. It can be expected that with the completion of the planned airports, ports, and high-speed rail and expressway networks, the zone will become another engine for Shenzhen and Guangdong’s economic growth.

Historically, people from the Chaozhou-Shantou (Chaoshan) region are well-known for their talent at business. With their intelligence and diligence, they are doing business all over the world. Hong Kong’s richest businessman, Li Ka-shing, is from the region.

In 2014, 3 million people, or one-eighth of Shenzhen’s population, was from the region. The newly founded Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone will be a new world for the Chaoshan people. Therefore, the zone’s demand for talents will be met without much trouble.

In the new world, Shenzhen-based high-tech companies, which have faltered in growth due to rising land and housing prices, will regain momentum for development.

Ebu, one of the four townships in the zone, is rapidly transforming from an unproductive rural area into a technology-intensive industrial center. Projects from giant companies like Tencent, Huawei and China Resource have already settled down there.

It’s anticipated that with Shenzhen’s rich experience in reform and innovation, the cooperation zone will soon rise as a new smart city at an international level.

(The author is an English tutor and freelance writer.)