A panoramic view of Gaoqing county. [Photo/zbnews.net]
Since the start of the year Gaoqing county – administered by Zibo city, in East China's Shandong province – has picked up the pace to generate more eco-friendly development, urban-rural integration, peak carbon and carbon neutrality, high-quality living, as well as business innovation and startups.
That's according to a new conference on Oct 10, with officials announcing that in the first eight months of the year, the business revenue of industrial enterprises in Gaoqing county increased by 13.2 percent year-on-year, while investment in fixed assets rose by 24 compared with last year. The growth of the revenue of the general public budget was 7.4 percent, after deducting the factors of retention and tax rebates.
To build an eco-friendly development pilot area, Gaoqing invested 360 million yuan ($54 million) to construct infrastructure. Factories in leading industrial parks, such as the Yellow River Delta Pharmaceutical Valley, have started up during the period.
Gaoqing has also carried out 46 projects worth 30 billion yuan and introduced 25 projects worth 8 billion yuan to develop industrial supply chains for new materials and health care medicine.
To build an urban-rural integration prototype area, Gaoqing will complete the upgrading of 17 old communities by the end of November, as well as upgrade the gas facilities of 101 old communities. It's estimated this will benefit about 38,000 residents. The construction of more roads and urban greening is also moving forwards.
The new Jinan-Gaoqing expressway opens to traffic on Sept 30 – shortening the driving time between Gaoqing and Jinan city to 40 minutes. [Photo.zbnews.net]
In addition, last year Gaoqing further developed a national-level cluster for producing black cattle – a premium breed of cow whose meat is said to rival Wagyu beef. Local authorities planned to invest 50 million yuan this year to help develop the sector and raise 100,000 head of black cattle by the end of 2022, as well as 200,000 by the end of 2026.
Qingshui crayfish and other local agriculture products have also been promoted to help realize rural revitalization.
A view of lush and fertile land and water in Gaoqing. [Photo.zbnews.net]
Gaoqing has moved to improve the environment to contribute to the national peak carbon and carbon neutrality goals. From January to August, the number of days with good air quality in the county reached 162, a year-on-year growth of 15 days.
In addition, the county has launched an action plan to improve its people's standard of living and quality of life, with 113 tasks outlined and six projects.
In order to promote innovation and business startups, Gaoqing has implemented a plan to increase the number and improve the quality of high-tech and scientific medium and small-sized companies. There are currently 31 high-tech and 52 scientific medium and small-sized companies in the county.
