A new round of efforts to reinvigorate the economy of Northeast China will be made in an all-round manner, with an investment of approximately 1.6 trillion yuan (US$246.5 bln), following a document published by the State Council on April 26.
The figure was revealed by Zhou Jianping, department chief responsible for the reinvigoration of the NE region with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) at a press conference on Tuesday.
Home to numerous heavy industrial companies and state-owned ranches, the NE region reported some of China’s slowest economic growth rates in the first quarter of this year, with even a negative growth in Liaoning Province — the first economic contraction among the country’s provincial economies in the past seven years.
Zhou said that the government plans to finance 130 independent projects in the following three years. However, he declined to reveal any other details, such as the names of those projects.
Zhou said the economy in the NE region needs support, including support for coal mines. Some of the coal mines were opened before 1949 and are still running with outdated technologies.
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When speaking about the supply-side reform, a driving force behind the industrial restructuring of the region, Zhou said that the current industrial structures as well as technologies and products are far from being adaptable to the new normal of the national economy.
The new plan adopted for the reinvigoration of the NE region is completely different from the scheme implemented in 2003, since the latter targets the livelihoods of local residents while the former aims to transform the local development model, said the official.
Last year witnessed at least three negative growth rates among cities in the region, including Daqing, known for its enormous oil field managed by the China National Petroleum Corp, as well as Jixi and Qitaihe, home to coal mines affiliated to the debt-laden state-owned Longmay Group.
The policies from the central government generally focus on deducting social burdens of the local state-owned enterprises as well as alleviating the over-exploration of local resources like coal and oil.
Wang Jianguo, deputy director of the Heilongjiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission, said that the NE provinces were the first to practice the planned economy since the establishment of the country in 1949. However, the business model has now caused considerable impact on the fossilized regional economy.
According to ifeng Finance, a Chinese media outlet headquartered in Hong Kong, the NDRC is also considering policies to improve the economic environment for private enterprises, which have until now been much less influential in the region.
