Pudong sets out ambitious plans, key projects for 2023

On January 1, 2023, construction started on the Shanghai Integrated Circuits Design Industrial Park, or the "Zhangjiang Smart Box" project, on Dangui Road in the Pudong New Area.

Almost at the same time, 63 key projects were launched in Zhangjiang Science City with a total investment of 57.5 billion yuan (US$8.3 billion). Zhangjiang's pace of work is also the epitome of Pudong's "focus on economy."

Pudong completed the goals and tasks set at the beginning of 2022. The year 2023 is crucial for the implementation of the "14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25)." The new area has set more ambitious goals around economic work, reform and livelihood improvement, firmly shouldering the responsibility of high-quality development to become a stabilizer and growth engine of Shanghai.

On New Year's Day, Shanghai International Port Group released the container throughput data of Shanghai Port in 2022 – the 47.3 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) set a new high throughout the world for the 13th consecutive year.

In addition to the growth of foreign trade, Pudong's financial industry development in the first three quarters of 2022 also achieved an added value of 371.46 billion yuan and a growth rate of 6.4 percent, sending a positive signal to investors throughout the world.

At the quarterly work meeting of the municipal Party committee held on January 3, Pudong further stated with data that the total investment in 2023 will go up to a higher level, and it will strive to increase fixed asset investment by 5 percent to reach 315 billion yuan.

There are 488 major construction projects, with an annual investment of 160.8 billion yuan and a government financial investment of 30 billion yuan, both of which are record highs.

In fact, since the second half of last year, various performances in Pudong's economic development have laid the foundation for the next step of higher quality development.

In Lujiazui, office leasing has gradually stepped out of the haze, showing strong resilience. According to CBRE data, the overall occupancy rate of Lujiazui office buildings has reached 86 percent, higher than the level of 2020.

In Waigaoqiao, a complete industrial ecological chain with research hospitals as the core, R&D as the path, manufacturing and commercial application as the follow-up, and financial capital as the support has gradually become a closed loop in this coastal land.

Nine of the world's top 10 medical device enterprises have announced plans to do business here, and an international medical device intelligent manufacturing base has also been established in Waigaoqiao to seize the industrial opportunity.

In the past six months, hundreds of millions of yuan worth of industrial projects have also come up in succession throughout the new area. In addition to a number of MNC headquarters, R&D bases or R&D centers are also concentrated in Zhangjiang.

In December 2022, the world's highest level fresh produce processing center was established in Pudong. ABB, the world's top-four robot manufacturer, has also invested 1.1 billion yuan in Pudong to build a gigafactory, which will replace the original factory and provide support for Asian customers.

Economic development cannot be separated from reforms. As a pioneer in the reform and opening up of the country, Pudong, since 2013, has focused on the trade facilitation of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, including the negative list of foreign investment, the "all-in-one platform" of international trade, and the free trade account. The reform aims to build a more open framework so that global enterprises and capital can move in.

The reform has brought about development efficiency. By the end of October 2022, Pudong's paid-in value of foreign direct investment and foreign trade (imports and exports) had risen by 9.4 percent and 5 percent, respectively. It added 24 newly recognized multinational conglomerates' headquarters, raising the total number to 413.

This year, Pudong will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the pilot FTZ. Pudong will come up with a specific breakthrough plan for institutional opening. Not long ago, the bonded area of the Shanghai FTZ innovatively launched a special regulatory policy for integrity demonstration enterprises, which clearly defined that these enterprises are "free from interference" in terms of cargo import and export, export tax rebate, overseas investment filing, personnel entry and exit management, quality certification, etc.

Fast approval, less inspection, more policies and resources will greatly help the further development of a number of high-quality enterprises in the new area.

The year 2023 is a year of reform in Pudong and an important year for enabling the rule of law to reach a new level. Last year, 11 Pudong New Area regulations and five administrative measures were issued, and in two Shanghai local regulations there are special chapters on Pudong.

This year, Pudong will formulate a new batch of laws and regulations and administrative measures for IC industry development, data market cultivation, financial leasing development, etc to support reforms first and foremost with a higher level of legal security.