Guangzhou is aiming for double-digit growth this year despite the global economic slowdown, according to the city's government work report released yesterday.
Although Guangdong party secretary Wang Yang said earlier that Guangdong would not fight with other provinces over gross domestic product growth rankings, Guangzhou is targeting a growth rate of 11 per cent, considerably higher than the 8.5 per cent target for the province as a whole.
By 2016, the city's GDP was expected to surpass two trillion yuan (HK$2.46 trillion) with an average annual growth rate of 11 per cent in the intervening years, acting Guangzhou Mayor Chen Jianhua told the Guangzhou Congress. The city expects foreign exports to grow 8.5 per cent this year.
The city says it has seen GDP rise by double digits for each of the past two years, with an estimated increase of 11 per cent last year and 13 per cent the year before. The city also aims to better distribute development between different regions, encouraging more growth in the countryside.
Chen said the city planned to invest 71 billion yuan on 100 key projects this year. As one of the city's three principal industries, vehicle manufacturing is slated to play a big role. The city plans to ramp up car-making capacity in its Huadu industrial district to one million vehicles and 960,000 engines. Similarly, it aims to increase the capacity at a Zengcheng city project to 300,000 vehicles.
Chen promised numerous programmes and initiatives to improve the lives of city residents. Among them, he hopes to create jobs for 300,000 people and offer 60,000 vocational training certificates.