Fruitful two years for YRD demonstration zone

The Yangtze River Delta Demonstration Zone has made remarkable progress within just two years since its founding, with 73 institutional breakthroughs achieved and 65 major projects being rolled out, officials said during a news conference on Thursday.

Covering an area of 2,413 square kilometers, the demonstration zone was established in November 2019 and consisted of two districts and one county - Qingpu district in Shanghai, Wujiang district in Jiangsu province and Jiashan county in Zhejiang province.

The zone is at the heart of the Yangtze River Delta's integration which was made a national strategy in 2018 by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

According to Hua Yuan, deputy secretary general of Shanghai government and director of the zone's executive committee, the zone has scaled up efforts to bring about new institutional progress.

During the conference, officials shared that 35 institutional measures have been taken to tackle problems related to the integration. These problems have to do with coordinated management, ecological protection, administrative approvals, market factors flow, financial and taxation policies, land management and public services. These measures have also been promoted and adopted in other parts of the country.

In addition, 10 ecological projects have been carried out to improve the water quality of the Taihu Basin, among which is the building of a green corridor along the key Taipu River area.

Railroad, metro lines and highways will be extended or built to facilitate travel and the delta's integration. Tech companies including Huawei and Innoscience have also settled and championed the region's development, Hua added.

Huang Xinyi contributed to this story