Qingdao's GDP growth rate among the fastest of cities across China

Officials ramp up efforts to hit annual economic, social development goals

The economic growth rate of Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, outpaced most cities in China during the first three quarters of the year, showing a trend of positive recovery and continuous improvement.

The city's GDP exceeded 1.1 trillion yuan ($151.36 billion) in the first nine months, official statistics showed.

As the end of the year approaches, government departments in Qingdao are ramping up efforts to achieve their economic and social development goals.

In the fourth quarter, the city is pouring more resources into promoting the real economy and investment attractions in a bid to consolidate the foundation of its high-quality development.

The city has been pushing forward a three-year campaign to revitalize the real economy, making greater efforts to cultivate and develop 24 key industrial chains, and promoting the construction of 316 important projects with a total investment of more than 700 billion yuan, said the Qingdao development and reform commission.

The city has also been boosting the integrated development of 10 emerging industrial clusters, accelerating the building of a new service system, and advancing local modern industries.

Following national directives, Qingdao has formulated an implementation plan for green and low-carbon development, driving the intelligent and eco-friendly transformation of industries.

Another focus of the city is to construct industrial parks of a high standard, especially in emerging sectors such as new-generation display and integrated circuitry.

One of the largest advantages in Qingdao is that industry plays an important role in realizing the annual targets on economic and social development, the Qingdao industry and information technology bureau said.

The bureau said the city has conducted regular investigations on the business operation of companies. It organizes nearly 500 enterprises to do monthly and quarterly questionnaires, aiming to strengthen data monitoring of industrial electricity consumption, product output, production orders, redundancies, product inventory and raw material prices.

The initiative allows the bureau to accurately control the firsthand situation of corporate operations and industry development.

Qingdao has also established special service teams for large enterprises like Haier, Hisense and Tsingtao Brewery, and tailored preferential policies for them to support the implementation of the "output value doubling program".

The services and policies cover such fields as project construction, recruitment, logistics, operation monitoring, financing and power supply.

The city has also helped manufacturing enterprises build a closed-loop project management system from construction to operations, and tried to get some projects into operation ahead of schedule.

Expanding effective investment remains a top priority in the fourth quarter, officials said.

At the construction site of a virtual reality industrial park in Laoshan district, more than 380 workers are working hard to ensure that the first batch of plants will be delivered in March.

Companies including BOE Technology, Zhongnan Hi-Tech and Ronghe Optoelectronics plan to locate projects at a new-type display industrial park. The park is situated in the city's West Coast New Area, covering a region of 18,000 mu (1,200 hectares).

Qingdao will continue to highlight the construction of 380 key projects, and vigorously promote the major urban renewal projects such as the Lairong high-speed railway and the Blue Valley to Jiaodong International Airport express track, the city's development and reform commission said.

Entering the fourth quarter, Qingdao is sparing no effort to pursue improvements in the quantity and quality of foreign trade and investment, said the city's commerce bureau.

It has established mechanisms to guarantee services for foreign factories, warehousing and logistics enterprises in Qingdao, which are on the list issued by the Ministry of Commerce.

Qingdao has also encouraged companies engaged in foreign trade to make full use of the online 132nd China Import and Export Fair, or Canton Fair, which will end in March 2023. It also plans to add more than 400 new retail and wholesale catering companies by the end of the year.

haonan@chinadaily.com.cn