Xiangyang -- a Central Chinese City Full of Investment Opportunities

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With robust investment promotion and major infrastructure and industrial projects, Xiangyang in Hubei Province is attracting attention of the outside world.

Faced with a sluggish economy and dim growth indicators, the local government paid special attention to investment promotion over the past five years, as it deemed the inflow of capital was still the most direct and effective way to improve people's lives.

However, the traditional way of attracting investment through favorable policies was not going to work in the current circumstances. "When all the policies fail to work, it is the best opportunity for us to work out something different," said Qin Jun, the city mayor.

Innovation has since become the key to gain advantages. The city government sent almost all of its officials to seek investment across China. Immediately after the Spring Festival holiday of 2016, Qin himself visited Henan and Shandong provinces in central and east China to promote key projects surrounding the new energy auto industry.

From east to west, north to south, government officials from Xiangyang held numerous investment fairs to promote their city.

During one such fair in Shanghai, 30 projects were signed on site with a total investment of 21.4 billion yuan. At another economic and trade cooperation forum in Shenzhen, 20 projects with 6 billion yuan of investment were secured.

The government also set August as the city's investment promotion month. Last August, the Xiangyang investment promotion team visited more than 300 companies, inked 165 agreements with the amount of contractual investment exceeding 40 billion yuan, 70 percent of which were industrial ones.

Over the past five years, large enterprises such as Infiniti, Bridgestone, Siemens and Oracles have landed in Xiangyang, providing strong momentum for the city's growth.

In November, Guangdong-based Dynavolt Renewable Energy Technology Co., a renowned Chinese battery company, decided to invest 8.8 billion yuan in a new energy base in Xiangyang.

As one of China's first batch of new energy auto promotion and application cities, Xiangyang has over 30 enterprises and research and development institutions that specialize in the field, which own more than 200 patents and practical technologies. With a series of supporting policies from the central government being realized, the city's new energy auto industry is entering into a prime time.

The Xiangyang government has vowed to boost the production value of its new energy auto industry to 100 billion yuan by the end of 2020. In order to achieve the ambitious goal, a group of core companies, upstream and downstream firms, and matching companies have since been introduced to the city thanks to the great efforts of the local government.

State-owned enterprises (SOEs) have also become a work focus for the local government. During a two-day partnering conference in last May, 16 projects with more than 60 billion yuan of contractual value were signed between the city and SOEs.

In November, a grand ceremony was held in the city's high-tech zone to celebrate the signing, commencement and opening of 36 major projects, construction and factories. The total investment value exceeded 13.7 billion yuan.

When all the projects are put into operation, the annual output value could reach 25.4 billion yuan. The involved fields include automobile, strategic emerging industries, high-end manufacturing, modern service industry and cloud computing.

In the meantime, government officials have been ordered to follow closely the projects of their responsibilities, making sure both the investment and factories would land in the city according to contracts.

A complete industry chain involving automobile and auto parts manufacturing, advanced materials, energy conservation and environment protection, and equipment manufacturing has been strengthened in Xiangyang, which in turn draws more companies to invest and flourish in the city.

SOURCE Xiangyang Municipal Government