Nansha loses no time touting strengths

Trucks and cars flow in and out of Guangdong's Nansha new area across the busy Humen Bridge - the land gateway to Nansha from Shenzhen - but in most parts of the development zone people are rather thin on the ground.

Nansha, one of the three pilot special economic and services zones in the Pearl River Delta, alongside Hengqin and Qianhai, has ambitions to attract a dozen commercial and research sectors, up to 10 international university campuses, and a cornucopia of infrastructure and entertainment complex projects. Hyperbole is not a concern.

Just south of Guangzhou and hugging the northern shoreline of the Pearl River's estuary, the zone is awaiting central government approval to allow it to offer a range of incentives to attract foreign investment. With an eye on Hong Kong companies and expertise, it is believed the incentives will allow companies and individuals from the city to pay Hong Kong-equivalent income tax rates, permit arbitration of disputes under Hong Kong law and let Hong Kong doctors freely practise in the Nansha area.

Any incentives will likely complement existing arrangements under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement.

Although the district has yet to finalise any sweeteners for Hong Kong and Macau investors, Nansha has advantages that Hengqin and Qianhai do not - including one of the two deep-water ports on the mainland, an existing rail-road-sea transport network, a much longer history of economic development and the most space. Nansha occupies 800 square kilometres compared with 106 sq km for Hengqin and 15 sq km for Qianhai.

Nansha is slightly larger than Singapore, which occupies 710 sq km, but has a registered population of just 800,000, compared with Singapore's five million.