Binzhou posts high-quality development

BINZHOU,China,Oct. 24,2022 -- This is a news report from chinadaily.com.cn: Significant progress has been made in Binzhou city,East China's Shandong province,over the past decade in achieving well-rounded high-quality development,local officials said.

Between 2012 and 2021,the city's gross domestic product increased by 95.5 percent,with an average annual growth of 6.9 percent,according to Song Yongxiang,Party secretary of Binzhou.

The general public budget revenue grew at an average annual rate of 7.5 percent in previous years,reaching 28.73 billion yuan ($3.96 billion) in 2021,which provided strong financial support for the city's high-quality development.

Additionally,the industrial economy witnessedrobust development in Binzhou. The city has developed five industrial clusters worth 100 billion yuan each and is home to 1,530 enterprises above designated scale,including five in China's top 500 list.

More focus has been placed in promoting sci-tech innovation inthelast 10 years of development. The R&D investment of Binzhou accounted for 3.36 percent of its GDP,ranking first in the province.

In thealuminum industry,one of the city's pillar sectors,the proportion of middle and high-end aluminum products increased by 30.2 percentage points in three years and reached 65.2 percent last year. The city has been namedthe national high-tech industrialization base for high-end aluminum.

Located in the lower reaches of the Yellow River,China's second longest river,Binzhou has also taken up the mission of boosting the ecological conservation andhigh-quality development of the Yellow River Basin.

According to Li Chuntian,mayor of Binzhou,the city has given top priority to ecological protection along the Yellow River.

By the end of 2021,the forest coverage rate in Binzhou had reached 31.8 percent and the protection area of wetlandshadreached 176,000 hectares,ranking fourth in the province. A 7.8 square-kilometer botanical garden along the Yellow River is currentlyunder constructionin an effort to create a better ecosystem.

Binzhou is working to develop ecological and efficient modern agriculture along the Yellow River to help improve living conditions for locals. Todate,five modern agricultural industrial parks at or above provincial level have been built among counties and districts along the river.

Comprehensive progress also has beenmade in employment,education,medical care and elderly care,said Song,adding that Binzhou is developing into a city suitable for living,working,traveling,and healthcare.