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GEF Ningbo Cixi Wetland Project

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About Cixi City

Introduction to Cixi City

Cixi is located on the south bank of Hangzhou Bay , at the landfall of the Hangzhou Bay Sea-Crossing Bridge that is under construction currently. It is adjacent to Ningbo in the southeast, bordering Yuyao City in the southwest, and separated from Shanghai by sea to the north. As a rapidly growing city among the metropolitan group of cities in the Yangtaze River Delta, it lies in the central area of the?Golden Economic Triangle?of Shanghai , Hangzhou and Ningbo . Today, it boasts a national level economic development zone, Hangzhou Bay New Zone approved by the State Council. Cixi covers an area of 1154km 2 and has a population of around 1.7 million including 1.006 million registered permanent residents . The government seat is in Hushan Street of the city.

Cixi an economically booming city

Since the implementation of the policies of opening up and economic reforms, great social and economic progress has been achieved in Cixi. The composite index number of Cixi’s social and economic development ranks 16th among over 2,000 counties and county level cities. The regional economic basic competitiveness of the city ranks seventh in China . It is one of the four top counties in terms of capacity and competitiveness in Zhejiang Province . The city’s GDP in 2005 reached 37.523 billion yuan, of which the output value of primary industry was 2.084 billion yuan, the value added of secondary industry, 23.006 billion yuan, and the value added of tertiary industry, 12.433 billion yuan. Government revenue came to 5 billion yuan, while retail sales of consumer goods totaled 13.543 billion yuan, holding the top place continually in the province.

Cixi - a city thriving as a 'Bridge Economy'

The Hangzhou Bay Sea-Crossing Bridge is currently the longest cross-sea bridge under construction in the world. It is situated in the Yangtze River Delta, boasting one of the most dynamic and advanced economies in China . The project started construction at the end of 2003,and is schedule to be completed at the end of 2008. It will be open to traffic in 2009. With a designed lifespan of 100 years, the bridge will have six lanes in two directions, which allow for a driving speed of 100 km per hour. The total length of the bridge is 36 km . Upon completion, the bridge will shorten the distance between Shanghai and Ningbo by 120 km . The newly started construction of Hangzhou Bay Sea-Crossing Bridge provides Cixi a very rare opportunity to integrate Cixi into the Shanghai and Yangtze Delta Region. What was once a city `at the end of the line’ will now become a highly accessible hub for economic development and other activities. This will has a great significance for further improving the city’s environment, livability and competitiveness and for implementing the regional development strategy of Hangzhou Bay Rim.

      Because of the great significance of the bridge to the future development of Cixi, the city’s top priority in the coming five to ten years will be the development of its 揃 ridge Economy? The vision of the local government for between 2006 and 2010 is to build Cixi as an important base for ecological agriculture, increasing foreign currency earnings in the Yangtze River Delta and stimulating the manufacture base with its own strengths, logistics base and tourism resorts. The goal is to increase per capita GDP to some US $9,000, and to accelerate social development to reach the targets of becoming: a member of National Civilized Cities , National Hygiene City , a National Ecological Environment City , and a central city in the north of Ningbo municipality. It is expected the per capita GDP will reach US$ 10,000 by 2012, the level of Taiwan and South Korea in 1990s.