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SCMP Reporter

THE Zhuhai Special Economic Zone approved 747 joint ventures with contracted foreign capital of US$1.33 billion during the first 10 months of this year, according to Zhuhai Mayor Liang Guangda.

  Foreign investment in Zhuhai has soared as China's economic reforms gradually heated up.

   Revealing the investment figures at the 1993 Zhuhai Investment Symposium and Grand Opening of Key Projects, Mr Liang said the ''actually committed foreign capital'' during that period amounted to $380 million.

  The value of ''contracted foreign capital'' had increased by 54.4 per cent and the number of approved joint-venture companies by 27.7 per cent, compared with the same 10-month period last year.

  The Zhuhai mayor also said the value of ''committed foreign capital'' grew substantially by 55.2 per cent.

    ''The open-door policy not only has accelerated the growth of Zhuhai's foreign-oriented economy, but also improved the living standard of citizens and their social security, education and morality, making Zhuhai economically the most active and most enchanting place in China,'' Mr Liang said.

    ''Over 7,000 joint ventures with foreign companies from 20 countries and regions had been set up in the Zhuhai SEZ since its establishment in 1980,'' he said.

  The Zhuhai Special Economic Zone was established by the Beijing Government in 1980 as part of Deng Xiaoping's modernisation drive.

   The SEZ has an area of 121 sq km and a population of about 600,000.

  According to Zhuhai government statistics, the SEZ's average economic growth rate has been 35 per cent a year since 1980 and the expected gross industrial product value for the current year is 20 billion yuan (about HK$26.8 billion at the official rate).

   Mr Liang also said he was determined to ''allocate massive manpower and finance to construct 30 key projects in the areas of transport, telecommunications and modern industries''.

  Citing examples of those key projects, Mr Liang mentioned the deep-water Zhuhai harbour in Gaolan, the domestic airport on Sanzao Island, the Lingdingyang Pearl River estuary bridge earmarked to link Zhuhai with Hong Kong by 1997, and the 176 km Guangzhou-Zhuhai railway.

   Other key projects included the Zhuhai-Guangzhou highway network, a 300-sq-km industrial harbour district, a water supply system of 1.8 million cubic metres per day, a power plant of 3,720 megawatts, 600,000 international dialling telephone connections,a 9.78-sq-km hi-tech industrial park, and a ''South China software base''.

  He also said the SEZ harbour was planned to cover an area of 300 sq km, offering an annual cargo-handling capacity of 150 million tonnes.

   Addressing more than 700 business leaders from 20 countries, regions and territories, chamber of commerce representatives from several Asian countries and territories and foreign diplomats, Mr Liang said Zhuhai had put forward 131 projects ''for foreignco-operation'' which covered infrastructure development, engineering, energy supply, electronics, chemical industry, ship building, pharmaceutics and service industries.

    The Zhuhai mayor welcomed ''foreign investment of up to 80 per cent of the total investment capital of the 131 announced projects, including the inter-city Guangzhou-Zhuhai express railway, and the Lingdinyang bridge and harbour construction''.

   Well-known names such as Canon of Japan, Amoco of the US, Philips of the Netherlands, Noell of Germany and others that ''have found Zhuhai as their launching base'', Mr Liang said.



Foreign investors pour capital into Zhuhai development projects