Hubei Shiyan: Adjusting Industrial Structure, Protecting Ecological Environment

Shiyan City, Hubei Province, adhered to the principle of "ecological priority," so that the ecological industry and the industrial development of the two-wheel drive, there has been a good momentum of economic development and ecological protection coordination. In 2007 Shiyan City's industrial output value increased by 35% year-on-year, and fiscal revenue increased by 18.1%. At the same time, the industrial structure gradually evolved from unity to diversification and from low to high levels. The number of days with air quality better than or equal to the secondary standard reached 351 days in the year, and it has been rated as the National Ecological Demonstration Zone and China's Best Leisure Tourism City.

Shiyan City is located in the hinterland of the Qinba Mountains, and the Han River runs through the whole territory. It is one of the 22 restricted development zones listed in the National Eleventh Five-Year Plan. Municipal Party Committee Secretary Zhao Bin said: "According to the national and Hubei Province's functional orientation of the Shiyan region, we must regard ecological protection as the bottom line, and intensive use of resources as the focal point. We must build both ecologically and industrially. We should walk on two legs and let Castle Peak. Green water has become a source of wealth for mountain farmers to achieve a win-win situation in both economic and environmental protection."

Shiyan City was built for cars, and the automobile industry once accounted for 79% of the city's industrial output value. In recent years, the city has insisted on taking the auto industry as the leading force, vigorously developing tourism, hydropower, biomedicine, and organic agriculture to reduce the structural risks of a single industry. According to Chen Tianhui, mayor of Shiyan City, the local auto industry’s share of the city’s auto industry increased from 22.7% five years ago to 34.7%, and the tertiary industry’s share of GDP increased from 34% to 42%. Today, "Wudang Mountain, Han River Water, Motor City" has become the three major brands of Shiyan. In 2007, the added value of hydropower, tourism and green food industry reached 4.4 billion yuan, an increase of 33% over the previous year.

Shiyan took care of the service “Dongfeng” and focused on the development of local enterprises. It cultivated a group of projects with fixed assets investing over RMB 100 million and supported a group of enterprises with sales revenue exceeding RMB 100 million. In 2007, while fighting for major projects such as the Dongfeng ZD30 engine, Dongfeng commercial vehicles were also the mainstay, with key component companies as the backbone, vigorously cultivating the automotive industry clusters and constructing a development pattern in which local vehicles and parts will be interactive. Today, 22 production enterprises in the city have formed an annual production capacity of 500,000 vehicles.

Through independent innovation, transforming old companies, a group of new industries emerged in the Ten Commandments. In 2007, the city completed a total investment of 1.01 billion yuan in technical reforms, an increase of 46.9% year-on-year, and completed 190 new product developments. Technological innovation directly increased production of 1.7 billion yuan for Shiyan pharmaceutical and chemical industries, non-ferrous metal smelting, and rubber products, and local industries represented by cement and machinery manufacturing achieved an added value of 4.75 billion yuan.

Relying on the mountain water resources, Shiyan's “green industry” has developed rapidly. At present, the city has built 166 power stations with a total installed capacity of 1,824,000 kilowatts, making it the second largest hydropower base in Hubei. In the past three years, the city has invested more than 300 million yuan to improve the tourism environment, and has played the “Wudang brand” and “water brand”. The tourism industry has achieved breakthrough development. In 2007, there were 7.6 million tourists and total tourism revenue reached 3.16 billion yuan. The city has developed 3.5 million mu of characteristic industrial bases. Last year, it achieved an added value of 3.35 billion yuan, and its output value accounted for 45.5% of the total agricultural output value from less than 20%.

In order to reduce the sources of environmental pollution, in June 2007, the city’s 69 yellow ginger processing companies were all shut down. Each year, the industrial output value will be reduced by 1.4 billion yuan, and tax revenue will also be lost by 45 million yuan. However, this measure can reduce 2.8 million tons of waste water and 50,000 tons of waste residue each year.

Shiyan City vigorously treated the pollution, and the ecological environment improved significantly. At present, the 17 sewage and garbage disposal projects included in the planning of Shiyan City have all been started; the city has invested 120 million yuan in total and managed 110 small watersheds in a comprehensive manner. The comprehensive utilization rate of industrial solid waste in Shiyan City reached 78.9%; the centralized treatment rate of urban domestic sewage reached 81.23%; the urban environmental protection investment index was 3.42%.