By Li Hongmei

Thanks to the central government's encouragement, the Hebei provincial government in North China has extended considerable support in the development of the Bohai Bay Economic Rim and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei economic zone to help boost the local economy, media reports.

Under the plans, Huanghua Port in eastern Hebei's Cangzhou city is to be extended in three months to include a channel with a navigation capacity of 200 thousand tonnes, a terminal at the harbor with an ore-carrying capacity of 200 thousand tonnes, and a railway line linking the port and Handan (Xingtai) will also be put into operation.

The port is expected to become North China's key shipping center, handling 500 million tonnes of cargo a year. As a regional transportation hub, Huanghua Port boasts access to national highways 205 and 307, the Shijiazhuang-Huanghua and Tianjin-Shanwei expressways, and the Shenmu-Huanghua railway. In addition, several other road and rail routes are under construction, including the Baoding-Cangzhou expressway and the Handan-Huanghua railway.

The provincial government aims to develop its coastal areas as a major economic growth driver and a demonstration zone for economic reforms for the entire province by 2017. This will be done by making good use of the geographic proximity between Beijing and Tianjin, while exploring its existing potential to promote economic integration with the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Under the province's plan, Qinhuangdao, Tangshan, and Cangzhou are expected to generate some 50% of the province's total GDP by 2017. By then, the cargo-handling capacity of ports in the province will have reached 1.2 billion tonnes, while container throughput at the ports will have reached 7 million units.

To meet these goals, the provincial government will provide full policy support for the development of the three coastal regions in the form of tax incentives, financial support, and the launch of railway construction and land development projects, the paper said.

Even if the coastal area development plan was unveiled in 2006, the development process has still faced a series of difficulties. Hebei's economic growth target for this year is 9% but has only achieved 8.6% in the first half of this year.

This has concerned the central and local governments, prompting them to adopt further measures to improve the implementation of the plan by offering policy incentives.