Guangdong to double incomes 2 years ahead of schedule, governor says
Province will double incomes by 2018, ahead of schedule, governor tells congress, while also predicting annual economic growth will be 8pc
Guangdong would double per capita incomes from 2010 levels by 2018, two years ahead of the national goal, provincial governor Zhu Xiaodan told the opening of the provincial people's congress yesterday.
Southern China's economic powerhouse was also eyeing economic growth rates of 8 per cent for the next five years, Zhu said in the government work report. He also vowed to speed up the transformation of the province from the "world's factory" into a base for strategic and innovative industries.
He said the province planned to invest 400 billion yuan (HK$494 billion) in 280 projects this year, and also highlighted the importance of driving domestic consumption through further urbanisation.
Heavy industrial bases for iron and steel production, oil refining, petrochemicals and train manufacturing were listed as key projects. Construction of railway lines and highways linking the Pearl River Delta with the province's northeast and northwest would also be sped up.
Guangdong's economic output grew by 10.2 per cent last year, Zhu said, beating an 8.5 per cent target despite a slowdown in trade amid a global downturn in the first half of the year.
But the report did not mention "phoenix nirvana", a catchphrase coined by new provincial Communist Party chief Hu Chunhua last week in pledging to continue the upgrading of the province's economic structure.