Jiangsu narrows regional disparity

A glance at the workshop of Jiangsu Gift Heavy Industry Co Ltd in Guannan county, Jiangsu province on May 21, 2012. [Photo / chinadaily.com.cn]

Jiangsu, one of China's richest provinces, has a long-standing thorn in its economic development: the south-north divide.

The province is divided by the Yangtze River into the southern and the northern part. According to some, the richer southern part, closer to Shanghai, holds a somewhat condescending attitude towards the north.

The regional disparity, marked by geography, dialect and culture, can be dated back to thousands of years ago. But the ultimate reason lies in economic imbalance.

Fortunately for Jiangsu people, the deep-seated problem is witnessing dramatic change in recent years, due to the province's consistent efforts and a national level plan to develop Jiangsu's costal areas, most of which are in the north part.

The plan, approved by the State Council in June 2009, raised the development of Jiangsu's costal areas to national strategy.

Jiangsu, while maintaining a high growth rate for the whole province, leans developments more to the north part in order to narrow the gap between the south and the north.

The efforts have paid off. The area's GDP increased at an annual rate of 17.4 percent in the last three years, one percentage point higher than the provincial average. Trade volume of the coastal area grew 16.7 percent on average per year, 5.5 percentage points higher than the whole province's level.

In 2011, the fixed asset investment of the coastal area jumped 22 percent, 1.4 percentage points higher than Jiangsu's figure. The total investment reached 60 billion yuan ($9.49 billion) in 2011, after the number topped 40 billion yuan in 2009 and 50 billion yuan in 2010.

Li Yunfeng, executive vice governor of Jiangsu, told reporters that it was during the 11th Five Year Plan (2006-2010) that the province's coastal development fast tracked. He emphasized that Jiangsu put great emphasis on balanced development of different regions, and the province has adjusted the strategy of "developing together" to "coordinated development".