Advanced tech park gains ground in national ranking

The Dongying Economic and Technological Development Zone is on track to becoming a renowned hightech park in the nation with growing strength in biomedicines, new materials, electronic information and new energy, said a local official.

In the three years that have passed since it was updated to a national-level industrial zone in 2010, the Dongying zone rose to the rank of 39th among all the 192 national zones in terms of overall strength, said Zhang Runguo, the zone’s Party chief.

Last year, local enterprises produced 131.7 billion yuan ($21.6 billion) worth of products, an increase of 29 percent compared over 2011.

The growth continues this year, with output totaling 106 billion yuan during the first three quarters, an increase of 16.38 percent compared to the same period last year.

“The high-tech and emerging industries contribute 49.95 percent of the zone’s total output, making them a pillar of the zone,” Zhang said.

“We have made efforts to foster a number of leading enterprises to increase our competitiveness,” Zhang added.

Currently the zone has 39 enterprises each with annual revenue surpassing 100 million yuan.

The Shandong Luistone Wheels Co Ltd, for instance, is a supplier for globally renowned carmakers like BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The number of orders it secured to date this year quadrupled that of the same period of last year, bringing its revenue to more than 3 billion yuan.

The Shengli Power Machinery Co Ltd has grown into China’s largest facility for gasfueled power generators and engines. Using natural gas, petroleum gas and waste gases — such as coal-mine gas, the environmentally friendly and energy-saving engines made by the company have been sold to more than 40 countries and regions.

Shift of focus

Home to one of China’s largest oilfields — the Shengli Oilfield, Dongying once depended heavily on the petroleum industry.

Since 2009, when the State Council decided to develop the Yellow River Delta region into an ecological-friendly economy, the city — at the core of the region — shifted its focus to environmental-friendly industries.

Echoing the city government’s transformation strategy, the zone now highlights developing high-tech and emerging industries, while upgrading its traditional sector with high tech, according to Zhang.

He said a 12-square-kilometer national-class demonstration park for ecological development has been established in the zone, with 17 projects having a combined investment of 12 billion yuan being approved.

Last year, 138 traditional industrial projects in the zone were upgraded, Zhang said.

The Dongying zone has also been recognized by the Shandong provincial government as a demonstration area for new energy and high-tech industries.

It is projected to generate 300 billion yuan of gross domestic product in 2015, according to the city’s plan for the zone’s development during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (201115).