The fourth phase expansion of Shanghai Pudong International Airport is among the 10 transport-related projects that started work on Tuesday in Shanghai's Pudong New Area. [PHOTO BY GAO ERQIANG/CHINA DAILY]

Move set to help the new area strengthen its leading role in high-end industries

Construction work for 82 key projects, entailing over 317.6 billion yuan (almost $50 billion) in investment, and covering areas like high-end industries, scientific innovation, infrastructure and livelihood improvement, started in Shanghai's Pudong New Area on Tuesday.

This signifies the area's resolve to implement the central authorities' call to build itself into a pioneer of socialist modernization, said Shanghai's top officials at a ceremony to mark the commencement of work.

The stress on technology will promote high-quality development of Pudong, said Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng.

The municipal government of Shanghai will strive to attract more large-sized projects by assuring industry leaders of solid room for growth, thereby facilitating the upgrade of the city's industrial facilities, said Gong.

More importantly, increasingly systematic innovation will be nurtured with these projects, he said. By serving the key projects, government services and management methods will be innovated and market elements completed.

In this way, a first-rate market-based, law-bound and world-class international business environment can be created more rapidly in Shanghai, said Gong.

In August, Pudong's local government announced that six industries－big data, new energy vehicles, chip-making, smart manufacturing, biomedicine and civil aviation－will lead the development of advanced manufacturing industrial clusters during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25). Since then, 23 projects have been launched, attracting over 123.3 billion yuan in investment.

These projects will help Pudong strengthen its leading role in terms of high-end industries. A world-class industrial cluster will thus be built rapidly, said Wu Jincheng, director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization.

Efforts should be made in Pudong to tap into new investment themes like low carbon and the metaverse. An intelligent terminal industrial park should be launched in Pudong so that the digital economy and the real economy can be more deeply integrated, he said.

Aiming to knit the transportation network in Pudong more closely, some 10 transportation projects also launched construction work on Tuesday, attracting 153 billion yuan in investment.

The fourth phase expansion of Shanghai Pudong International Airport figures among the 10 transport-related projects that started work on Tuesday. Upon completion, the airport will be able to receive 130 million passengers annually by 2030.

Zhu Zhisong, Party secretary of Pudong New Area, said during the ceremony on Tuesday that the commencement of the 82 projects on the first workday of 2022 demonstrates the municipal government's confidence and determination to boost the city's development via investment.

For years, Pudong has adhered to the rule of advancing high-quality development via high-intensity investment. The area's fixed asset investment has grown by 10 percent annually over the past two years, said Zhu.

More investment will be directed to industrial upgrades, fine-tuning urban infrastructure, livelihood improvement, and ecological and environmental optimization this year.

Total fixed asset investment in Pudong will surpass 300 billion yuan this year, maintaining double-digit annual growth rate. While government fiscal investment will take the lead, more social capital should be attracted to help Pudong better lead the country's socialist modernization, Zhu said.