Xuwei New Area Ranks among Top 100 National Provincial Economic Development Zones

From: Lianyungang Daily Updated: 2025-03-31 03:34

Yesterday, it was learned from the Park Economy Research Center of CCID Consulting that Xuwei New Area has successfully advanced to the top 100 in the newly released list of the top 500 national provincial economic development zones, ranking 51st, and is also among the top 100 in the potential upgrade list. Experts from CCID Consulting stated that Xuwei New Area boasts a high degree of industrial clustering and is a model park for development and ecological coexistence among domestic chemical parks, representing a new development trend for petrochemical parks.

As of 2024, there were over 2,200 national provincial development zones, covering more than 90% of prefecture-level administrative regions. The list was compiled based on research in five areas: comprehensive development strength, technological innovation capability, regional development vitality, strategic support, and efficient organizational capacity, to select the top 500 provincial economic development zones. Xuwei New Area is the only provincial economic development zone in our city to make the list, highlighting its important role in promoting high-quality development, facilitating regional development, and providing strategic support.

In 2024, Xuwei New Area achieved a 12.0% growth in regional GDP throughout the year, ranking first in the city; the industrial output value of the petrochemical base increased by 12.6%, contributing 72.9% to the city's growth and driving the city's industrial output value by 4.4 percentage points; foreign trade import and export volume reached USD 10.86 billion, up 28%, with both the total volume and growth rate ranking first in the city. The comprehensive strength of the Lianyungang Petrochemical Industry Base ranks 9th among 695 key chemical parks nationwide, up 5 places from the previous ranking.

Industrial innovation capacity continues to improve. In recent years, Xuwei New Area has accelerated the transformation of park enterprises from production-oriented to operation-oriented and innovation-oriented enterprises. The park fully leverages the role of enterprises as the main body of innovation, continuously improves the technology research and development system and mechanisms, and enhances technological innovation activities and fosters an increasingly strong atmosphere for technological innovation within the park. At the same time, focusing on promoting the downstream deep processing transformation of the petrochemical industry, Xuwei New Area has accelerated the recruitment of chemical new materials and high-end chemical projects to expedite the formation of a complete and high-quality industrial chain. By continuously tapping into the advantages of its coastal location, Xuwei New Area is accelerating the development of the high-end equipment manufacturing industry, with the Xuwei Coastal Large-scale High-end Equipment Manufacturing Industrial Park under accelerated construction.

The park's development strength continues to grow. In 2024, Xuwei New Area actively promoted the construction of major projects, with the completion and commissioning of projects such as Ascend's hexamethylenediamine, Hongwei's propylene oxide, styrene monomer, and polyols, and the timely completion of the second phase of the public pipeline rack, as well as the completion of preliminary work for projects such as the renovation and expansion of the branch channel of the 2nd and 4th harbor basins. Centered on port development, Xuwei New Area proposes to accelerate the transition to a comprehensive hub port by leveraging the advantages of sea-river intermodal transport, seize strategic opportunities to accelerate the development of new maritime productive forces, and focus on promoting the national-level inspection and acceptance of the expansion of the opening up of the Xuwei Port, obtaining State Council approval for the Shenghong commercial oil and gas storage and transportation base, including the bulk commodity reserve base in the national strategy, and basically meeting the conditions for the landing of the shipbuilding and offshore engineering industry; promoting unified scheduling of all ships in the port, conducting night navigation and trial navigation for hazardous chemical ships, and continuously improving the port's navigation efficiency and service level. In addition, Xuwei New Area is also focusing on building a sea-river intermodal and inward-outward transportation hub system. Key transportation projects such as the eastern section of National Highway 311 in Lianyungang and the southern section of National Highway 228 in Lianyungang have clarified their planning and construction plans and are being expedited according to procedures. Construction of the Xuwei section of the Suqian-Lianyungang waterway has officially commenced, and upon its completion and opening to navigation in 2028, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal will achieve direct access to the sea at the Xuwei Port, making the Lianyungang Petrochemical Industry Base the only chemical park in China with bidirectional connectivity between inland rivers and seaports.