East China’s Jiangsu province has made unremitting efforts to promote ecological conservation along the Yangtze River by shutting down chemical plants and adjusting industrial layout so as to carve out a new path of high-quality development.
In the Jiangsu section of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, there is an endless stream of ships against the green shoreline. Five years ago, it was a different story.
Due to the heavy pollution of the Yangtze River caused by the dense distribution of chemical plants, it is difficult for people to approach the banks of the Yangtze River. In the past five years, Jiangsu has taken strong measures to shut down more than 4,000 low-quality and low-efficiency chemical companies, accounting for 60% of all chemical companies, though directly reducing the output value of more than 400 billion.
"The General Secretary said that the Yangtze River is sick to a worsening degree. His remarks made Jiangsu people aware that this is a disease of ecology but also a disease of development. If we do not change or improve our philosophy our production will be greatly restricted," said Wang Xiandong, Deputy Director of Jiangsu Provincial Development and Reform Commission.
The 25.8-kilometer Changzhou section of the Yangtze River is the shortest of its kind in the eight cities along the Yangtze River in Jiangsu. In the peak period, the shoreline in Changzhou is densely distributed with 127 chemical plants.
A chemical company within 1 kilometer along the river is being demolished. The official responsible for supervising the demolition safety is the deputy director of the industrial park that was in charge of investment promotion twenty years ago.
It is rather difficult for the park administration to arrange for the relocation of each chemical plant by addressing the details such as the capital needed for the relocation, the placement of employees and debt settlement.
In the extreme case, it took the park administration four years to demolish a chemical plant after the signing of the contract.
With 31 chemicals plants along the Yangtze River shoreline relocated, Xu Yawei has once again devoted his time to the introduction of investment projects but from high-quality industrial chains this time such as polymer materials, carbon fiber composite materials, and high-end equipment manufacturing.
The bio-pharmaceutical enterprise introduced by the Changshu Fluorochemical Park a year ago has completed more than half of the construction of a 2-billion-yuan plant.
Old-brand fluorine chemical companies in the park are also transforming from traditional products to high-end products such as electronic chemistry.
"In the next five years our park will build an extension of organic fluorine materials fine electronic chemicals and biopharmaceutical industries. The annual output value will reach 10 billion yuan which is equivalent to double our output in the next five years," said Jin Yongqing, Director of the Jiangsu High-Tech Cyanide Chemical Industrial Park Administration.
In the past five years, Jiangsu has focused on the development of emerging industries such as new carbon materials, medical and health industries, the Internet of Things, and integrated circuits.
In 2020, Jiangsu posted a growth of 3 trillion yuan in its regional GDP from five years ago, and the proportion of high-tech industry output increased by about 5 percentage points. The general public budget revenue is expected to increase by more than 2.5%.
Jiangsu has relied on a systematic approach to accelerate the restoration of the Yangtze River's ecology, the adjustment of industrial structure, and the promotion of integrated development. It has also relied on the Southern Jiangsu National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone to promote the two-way integration of the industrial chain and the innovation chain.
Jiangsu has also accelerated the construction of 13 advanced manufacturing clusters and 50 key industrial chains to ensure that new materials, new medicines, new energy, software, energy conservation and environmental protection industries rank first in the country and its integrated circuits, Internet of Things, biomedicine, the innovation and industrial level of high-end equipment sectors have achieved a significant leap.
（Source:ourjiangsu.com）
