Poised to boom

The four cities of Beihai, Fangchenggang, Qinzhou and Nanning will all play their own role in steering growth in the Beibu Gulf Economic Zone designated by China in 2006 as the next growth engine.

WEI Qing Lun has moved his family from Taiwan to Beihai city in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region for a few years now.

The general manager of Liteon IT Opto Tech Co Ltd, which specialises in CD-ROM and DVD-ROM production, loves the nice weather and clean air in the coastal city.

"Compared with Beijing, Shanghai and the cities in Guangdong province, the air quality in Beihai is so much better. It is one of the reasons why I chose to work in this city," he said.

"Other reasons include the city government's special incentives to attract investors from Taiwan, Hong Kong and else where, especially in the electronics sector," he added.

He said more companies were moving base to western or southwestern China, including Guangxi, because labour cost in areas such as Guangdong had been rising over the past few years.

"The wages of our company's normal employees range between 1,000 yuan (RM480) and 1,800 yuan (RM864). We provide them with accommodation and meals.

"We set up our production facility here in 2008 and in a matter of four years our sales and export output have topped Guangxi," he added.

Beihai is one of the four cities in the Beibu Gulf Economic Zone designated by the Chinese government in 2006 as the next growth engine.

According to Beihai city vice-mayor Mao Yanqiong, the city had experienced a faster economic growth rate in the last few years, thanks to the development of electronics and IT industries.

"Besides the electronics and IT industries, the petrochemical and port new material industries have seen tremendous growth in recent years.

"In 2011, the output value of the electronics and IT industries in Beihai added up to 30.2bil yuan (RM14.5bil), which made up 67% of Guangxi's total.

It is expected to increase to 50bil yuan (RM24bil) this year and by the end of the 12th Five Year Plan (2011-2015) it will reach 105bil yuan (RM50.4bil)," she said.

By then, Beihai will become the electronics and IT industry base in central and western China as well as the base for exporting electronics products to Asean nations, she added.

Within two hours' drive from Beihai are the Fangchenggang, Qinzhou and Nanning cities, all of which will play their own role in steering growth in the Beibu Gulf region.

Fangchenggang is a port city with a great potential to become a logistic centre for Asean nations.

Wilmar International, linked to Malaysian tycoon Tan Sri Robert Kuok, has seen the city's potential earlier by setting up an oil refinery plant at the port in 1994. Now the company has three such facilities in the area.

A spokesman from the company said: "Our edible oil brand Arowana has become a household name in China over the years. We import ingredients such as soybean from Brazil and process and package them here. The products will be distributed to the western and southern regions in China via the port."

In Qinzhou, there are so much going on. First, the China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park was launched in April. Then, the city became China's fifth port for imported complete build-up unit vehicles.

Its vice-mayor He Youcheng said that with the realisation of the China-Asean Free Trade Area, the economic cooperation between Asean nations and Qinzhou was growing fast with trading volume hitting US$ 1.09bil (RM3.44bil) last year.

"Qinzhou is taking on a more important role in promoting international cooperation with Asean. It is planned that supporting facilities like roll-on-roll-off wharf, detention line, container depot and trading centres will be built by 2015 for the export and import of 300,000 vehicles per year.

"The State Council (China's Cabinet) has also approved the Qinzhou port to expand its scope to another coastline of 28.8km and 98 berths. A harbour industry cluster focusing on petrochemical, equipment manufacturing, paper-making, electronics and energy," he said.

He added that the present China National Petroleum Corporation's 10-million ton oil refinery project near the Qinzhou port would help support energy consumption by industries in the area.

While Beihai, Fangchenggang and Qinzhou serve as a platform for industrial development and provide the feel of coastal city lifestyle, Nanning – the autonomous region's capital – will be the cultural hub in the Beibu Gulf.

It is the first major city where travellers from Asean, particularly Vietnam, by railway and road, have to pass by.

Nanning vice-mayor Lv Jie said her government would work hard to make the city a regional metropolis and the most modern in Guangxi.

"During the 11th Five Year Plan (2006-2010), the government has invested 33.5bil yuan (RM16bil) to improve the livelihood, including education, culture, medical care, social net and employment. This was 3.71 times more than that allocated during the previous plan," she said.

With a population of 13.5 million, the four cities in the Gulf are a complete package that investors will find hard to resist if they were to expand out of the Pearl River Delta region.

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