Introduction to Huaihua High-tech Industrial Development Zone
1. Development History
In June 2003, Huaihua Ecological Industrial Park was established with the approval of CPC Huaihua Municipal Committee and People’s Government of Huaihua City. It was located south of Zhongfang Town, west of Huaiqian Road, east of the planned Linsan Expressway, and north of Shanghai-Kunming Expressway, with a total planned area of 1,800 hectares.
In April 2006, with the approval of People’s Government of Hunan Province and National Development and Reform Commission, Huaihua Ecological Industrial Park was officially renamed “Huaihua Industrial Park” and recognized as a provincial development zone, with a planned control area of 400 hectares.
In October 2011, with the approval of People’s Government of Hunan Province, the planned control area of Huaihua Industrial Park was increased to 1,000 hectares by 2015. The industrial park extended to Zhutian Creek to the north, Luhui Creek to the south, Wushui River to the west, and Jiaoliulu to the east.
In July 2016, with the approval of People’s Government of Hunan Province, Huaihua High-tech Industrial Development Zone was built on Huaihua Industrial Park, and the planned control area remained unchanged.
In February 2018, with the approval of the State Council, Huaihua High-tech Industrial Development Zone was upgraded to a national high-tech industrial development zone. According to the Catalog of Approved and Announced Development Zones in China (2018 Edition), Huaihua High-tech Industrial Development Zone had an approved and announced area of 924.27 hectares.
In August 2022, with the approval of People’s Government of Hunan Province, Huaihua High-tech Industrial Development Zone had an approved area of 938.18 hectares. It extended to National Highway 209 to the east, Luhui Creak to the south, Wushui River to the west, and Zhongfang District Office to the north.
2. Locational Conditions
Economic location. Located in western Hunan Province, Huaihua is the largest prefecture-level city in the province. It witnessed the troop transfer of the Chinese Central Red Army in Tongdao, surrender of Japanese invaders, and birth of hybrid rice. Huaihua is a national comprehensive transportation hub as well as an important node city for the development of the new western land-sea corridor, the great international land-sea trade corridor that connects the Indian Ocean, and the “Belt and Road”. By taking advantage of its international land port, the city has launched four international channels including the China-Laos, China-Vietnam and China-Myanmar channels, four major ports, and 98 international and domestic transportation routes, thereby forming a new model of opening up that relies on the new western land-sea corridor and the great international land-sea trade corridor, connects the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean, and serves domestic and international economic flows. Huaihua Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone is located on the south side of Zhongfang County, Huaihua City, in the center of the circular space formed by Guiyang, Chongqing, Yichang, Changsha and Guilin, with a radius of 400 kilometers. The development zone connects the Yangtze River Delta, Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan Experimental Zone for Building a Resource-saving and Environment-friendly Society, and Chengdu-Chongqing economic zone from east to west. It is a major channel connecting the Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe International Railway (known as the “new Silk Road”). It connects the Beibu Gulf Rim, Pearl River Delta and Yangtze Economic Belt from south to north. Boasting the optimal radiation radius for trade and logistics, it is an ideal destination for investment and business. Leveraging the construction of Huaihua International Land Port, Huaihua Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone has gone into partnership with over 50 large professional market and freight forwarding logistics companies in the Greater Bay Area, Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan city cluster, Chengdu-Chongqing economic zone and other regions, becoming a new growth pole that drives the economic development of the Wuling Mountain area.
Transportation location. Huaihua Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone is adjacent to Chongqing-Huaihua Railway in the north, Shanghai-Kunming Expressway in the south, Jiaozuo-Liuzhou Railway and National Highway 209 in the east, and Baotou-Maoming Expressway in the west. Within the development zone, a special railway line connects the Jiaozuo-Liuzhou Railway, and Shanghai-Kunming Expressway and Baotou-Maoming Expressway have two interchanges. The three ordinary railway lines of the Shanghai-Kunming line, Jiaozuo-Liuzhou line and Chongqing-Huaihua line as well as the three high-speed railway lines of the Shanghai-Kunming line, Huaihua-Hengyang line and Zhangjiajie-Jishou-Huaihua line intersect in the urban area of Huaihua City in a snowflake shape. The Shanghai-Kunming, Baotou-Maoming and Changsha-Zhijiang Ring Expressways were completed. By taking the high-speed trains running on the Shanghai-Kunming line, 15 kilometers away from the development zone, one can arrive in Changsha and Guiyang in one and a half hours, Wuhan in three hours, Kunming in four hours, and Shanghai and Shenzhen in five hours. Huaihua Zhijiang Airport, 30 kilometers away from the development zone, has launched flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Changsha, Kunming, Haikou, Xi’an, Qingdao and Beihai, among other cities. The waterway of Yuanjiang River connects rivers and seas, and port customs has opened up customs clearance channels at home and abroad.
3. Natural Conditions
Geography. Huaihua Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone mainly consists of mountains and hills, and the terrain is flat in the north and complex in the south. The development zone features a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate, with an average temperature of about 16℃ annually, 5.3℃ in January and 27.9℃ in July. The development zone enjoys four distinct seasons, with short periods of severe cold and hot summer weather. It boasts a mild climate, three distinct cold periods, abundant and evenly distributed rainfall, and great light energy potential. It has less sunshine in winter and spring, with modest vertical difference and obvious periodic climate changes. The frost-free period lasts 278 days, the average annual sunshine hours are 1,486 hours, and the average annual precipitation is between 1,600 and 1,700 millimeters. The lowest and highest elevation is 204 meters and 297.2 meters, respectively, with a maximum elevation difference of 93.2 meters. The terrain on both sides of Huaiqian Road is flat, with good land conditions.
Natural resources. Huaihua Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone has abundant precipitation and surface water. Its main water sources are natural precipitation and Wushui River. The average annual precipitation in the Wushui River Basin is 1,321.9 millimeters. The soil types include slate, parent materials of limestone, and parent materials of river alluvium in modern times. The soil colors include red, yellow, light gray and light black. The soil ranges from acidic to slightly acidic, suitable for crop growth. The parent materials of soil are mainly metamorphic rocks and sedimentary rocks.
4. Scientific and Technological Innovation
Huaihua Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone has established strategic cooperation relations with more than 20 institutions and enterprises, including Chinese Academy of Sciences, Central South University, Huazhong Agricultural University, Xiangtan University, and Hunan University of Chinese Medicine. It has 74 innovation platforms at or above the municipal level, including seven national innovation platforms, 46 provincial innovation platforms, one academician workstation, and one post-doctoral scientific research workstation. It has 58 qualified high-tech enterprises, two Madrid international trademarks, and two national well-known trademarks. It has won 123 science and technology progress awards, including one national award, nine provincial awards and 113 municipal awards. It has applied for over 3,700 patents, over 2,300 of which have been granted. In April 2024, the development zone was included in the list of top 100 high-tech zones that use special and sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products. The ISO international standard for caulis sinomenii developed by Liu Liang (an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering) and his team is the first ISO international standard for Chinese herbal medicine in Hunan Province. “Taige Junsong” developed by Juntai New Material is the first registered domestically produced pulp brand in China.
5. Industrial Development
In line with the strategic layout of “southward extension, westward expansion, one core and two parks”, Huaihua Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone has worked to advance the deep integration of the industrial chain, innovation chain, financial chain, talent chain, service chain and value chain. It has achieved fruitful results on the new journey toward creating the development engine of Huaihua, innovation hub and demonstration area for the high-quality development of the Wuling Mountain area. Home to 78 industrial enterprises above the designated size, the development zone has initially formed an industrial development pattern with new material and electronic information as the leading industries, and medicine & health as the characteristic industry. Four industrial chains, including the new display, bio-based, machinery equipment, modern TCM planting and processing, and health industrial chains, are taking shape. Among them, the new display industrial chain that encompasses raw material processing and end products has been included in the provincial development plan for key industries in advanced manufacturing. The development zone is now home to top 500 Chinese private enterprises such as Sany Heavy Industry and Tunghsu Group, top 10 national large- and medium-sized industrial enterprises with independent innovation capabilities such as Zhengqing Group, and top 500 manufacturers in Guangdong Province such as Mornsun. In addition, a large number of leading enterprises in the industry, including Juntai Technology and Qianyuan Aluminum, are racing to establish business presence there. In 2023 the total revenue from technology, processing and trade was RMB25,202 million, the industrial output value was RMB20,479 million, and local tax revenue was RMB525 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 24%, 20% and 15.25%, respectively.
6. Infrastructure
Air. Huaihua Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone satisfies the national ambient air quality standards for level 2 and records good air quality for 95.8% of the days per annum. A range of green projects, including the “Ecological Governance and Green Development Demonstration Project in the Core Area for the Integrated Development of Port, Industry and City”, “SANY’s Intelligent Sanitation Equipment Manufacturing Project”, and “Wushui River Ecological Bank Protection Construction Project”, have been launched. Three green factories, 64 public charging and swapping stations, and 545 charging piles have been built.
Water supply. Zhongfang Water Plant, located in northwest Zhongfang County, supplies water to Huaihua Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone. The plant has a land area of 1.5 hectares and a planned design capacity of 100,000 tons/day. With the further integration of Hecheng District and Zhongfang County, the main urban area will supply water, and Zhongfang Water Plant will serve as an alternative water source. There are two water supply mains in the development zone, with a length of about 27,450 meters, forming a dual-loop water supply route.
Sewage. The sewage within the planned area is collected by the pipe network and sewage pumping station and transferred to the sewage treatment plant in Huaihua Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone for centralized treatment. It is planned to expand the capacity of the existing sewage treatment plant to 100,000 tons/day.
Rainwater. Rainwater is discharged into Wushui River based on water levels. Specifically, high water is discharged through high canals, and low water is discharged through low canals.
Power supply. Huaihua Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone houses three substations, namely the 12,00,000kVA/500kV Pailou Load-center Substation, 85,000kVA/110kV Qiaotou Substation, and 126,000kVA/110kV Leijialong Substation, which altogether supply power of 220kV or below to enterprises in the development zone.
Communication. Communication in Zhongfang County mainly relies on the telecommunications hub room in Hecheng District. It is planned to retain the existing telecommunications branch office and build a new branch office in the Hexi cluster and Huaihua Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone cluster. All telecommunication cables in the development zone are laid underground, and existing telecommunication cables are strictly protected. The telecommunication pipes in the development zone form a ring network system. Direct burial cables are fed into junction boxes in each building.
Gas. In 2021 the gas pipeline from the urban area of Huaihua to Zhongfang County was put into operation. As a result, the gas pipelines from the urban area of Huaihua to Zhongfang County and Huaihua Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone were connected, enabling Zhongfang County and Huaihua Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone to use gas through long-distance pipelines. The development zone uses natural gas as an energy source. It has Dongxu Gas Storage and Distribution Station, and the pipelines are laid underground.
Heat supply. At present, the development zone adopts centralized heating, which can provide about 50 tons of steam at a temperature of 210℃ per hour. Another heat supply project is under construction, which will provide an additional 35 tons of steam per hour.
Sanitation. Huaihua Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone generates about 20 tons of domestic waste every day and about 7,300 tons of waste every year, all of which is transported to the Huaihua Waste Incineration Power Plant for centralized treatment.
7. Adjustment and Expansion
Huaihua High-tech Industrial Development Zone had an approved area of 938.18 hectares, which, after deducting the area (94.35 hectares) that no longer fell within the delineated boundaries for urban development and the area (204.94 hectares) with unreasonable site selection and whose planned functions changed, decreased to 638.89 hectares. After such adjustment, the development zone is divided into two areas. The expanded area is 393.17 hectares, which falls within the delineated boundaries for urban development. After such adjustment and expansion, the development zone covers a total area of 1,032.06 hectares and extends to National Highway 209 to the east, Pailou Village to the south, Tanjiachong to the west, and Zhongfang District Office to the north. The entire development zone now falls within the delineated boundaries for urban development specified in the Overall Plan for National Land Space in Zhongfang County (2021-2035).
8. Business Environment
Huaihua High-tech Industrial Development Zone has completed the construction of the 800,000-square-meter standard factory buildings, which are fully equipped and rent-free for up to three years; a variety of service platforms, including the national technology incubator, makerspace and business startup park for returning migrant workers, have been built in the 21,000-square-meter innovation and startup service center building. The development zone has advanced the pilot reform on “sample lot + commitment system + agency system” and a construction project reform that features service provision upon negotiation, land provision upon signing, provision of supporting services upon construction, and real estate registration upon completion. By taking advantage of the reforms on centralized administrative approval and penalties, the development zone is committed to building itself into a model zone in Hunan Province and speeding up the approval of various investment projects. The development zone was the first in the province to adopt the “investment promotion loan” model. It worked with banks to roll out three credit loan products, namely “Hunan Financial Loan”, “Huiyuan Loan” and “Sci-tech Innovation Loan”. It also established Huaihua Zhongyida Private Equity Fund Management Company to improve the financing environment for enterprises within its jurisdiction. The development zone issued the Measures for Evaluating the Hectare-based Benefits of Industrial Enterprises and Management Measures for the Withdrawal of Idle and Inefficient Land. It also established the “Environmental Protection Supervisor” and “Safety Supervisor” systems and the High-tech Industrial Development Zone Station of Huaihua Human Resources and Social Security Station. Since 2021, the development zone has ranked among the top 30 industrial parks in the provincial evaluation for three consecutive years; in 2021, 2022 and 2023, it ranked among the top 10 industrial parks in the province in the business environment evaluation; since 2019, it has been listed among parks with no repeated, collective or backlog of public complaint cases in Hunan Province for three consecutive years; in 2023, it was rated as one of the top 10 development zones with the most investment value in China.
(Translated by Professor Yu Jie)