It is almost the end of the year, but Li Songli, Party secretary, Liaoning (Yingkou) Coastal Industry Base, is still busy at work because the 600-million-yuan Coca-Cola project he introduced to the base is in the middle of construction.

Its annual output is expected to be 70,000 or 80,000 tons, with an output value of 3 billion yuan, making it the fourth largest of China's 40 Coke factories.

"The city of Yingkou only had small projects with some 20 million yuan in investment in the past. We never thought we could bring in such a big project," said Li, Party secretary of the Laioning (Yingkou) Coastal Industry Base.

"But thanks to the Liaoning Costal Economic Belt strategy, Liaoning's industry got a boost so companies like Coca-Cola and Foxconn were attracted."

The area already has 107 projects worth more than 30 million yuan each, local authorities have said.

Work on 71 new ones, involving fixed assets of 504 million yuan during the first half this year, has started, representing a growth of 92 percent over the same period of the previous year.

Yingkou is the key city of the costal economic zone, which connects the city's older part and the Bayuquan development zone.

After three years of work, infrastructure in the main part of the base is nearly completed, and a dam, cross-lake bridge, workshop, sewage treatment plant, and heat source are operational.

The industrial area has already attracted many big names like the China Metallurgical Construction Corp, Foxconn, China Minmetals Corp, Huaneng Heat and Power, and the China National Offshore Oil Corp. These projects are valued at more than 10 billion yuan.

Because of these big investments, the base has established several pillar industries in electronic information, advanced equipment manufacturing, new materials, and fine chemicals.

"The appeal for so many of the enterprises is nothing more than our advantageous location," explained Li.

The industrial base on Bohai Bay is an old northeastern industrial base. It is also in the Liaoning Coastal Economic Belt and the Shenyang Economic Zone, making it superior to other coastal economic zones.

Moreover, during the next Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), the base will have a network that includes Yingkou's airport, high-speed rail links with Harbin and Dalian.

"In the next planning, we will set more specific goals and will concentrate on industries that are low-carbon, high added value; for example, new energy resources and digital chips," said Li.

"Over the next five years, the zone will become the most energetic new coastal zone of the entire coast of Northeast China."

(China Daily 12/02/2010 page6)