The five-year report card of the Yangtze River Delta demonstration zone: 154 institutional innovation achievements have been formed in total
On December 25th, a press conference was held in Shanghai to announce the achievements of the Yangtze River Delta Integration Pilot Zone (YRDIPZ) after five years of construction.
Reporters from The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) learned at the conference that since its establishment in November 2019, the YRDIPZ, as the first step and breakthrough for the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, has generated a total of 154 institutional innovation achievements over the past five years, with 48 of them replicated and推广 nationwide. This has facilitated the implementation of a total of 180 key projects in two rounds.
Gu Jun, Secretary-General of the YRDIPZ Council and Executive Committee, Deputy Secretary-General and Director of the Shanghai Municipal Government Development and Reform Committee, introduced that since the establishment of the YRDIPZ, the proportion of excellent class III surface water sections has increased significantly from 75% to 98.1%. The water quality of the “One River and Three Lakes” has already reached the 2025 target ahead of schedule. In 2023, the GDP of the two districts and one county reached 472.548 billion yuan, with the industrial output value of above-scale enterprises reaching 872.956 billion yuan, which saw an average annual growth of 5.94% and 8.19% respectively compared with 2019. The intensity of R&D investment has increased to 4.2% of GDP, which is higher than the average level in the three provinces and one city in the Yangtze River Delta region and ahead of the national average. There are now 3,319 national high-tech enterprises in the zone. The construction of the “Railway Zone” has been accelerated. A total of 531 medical insurance designated institutions and 926 pharmacies have achieved cross-provincial medical insurance settlement. Nine inter-provincial “dead-end roads” have been opened to traffic one after another. Eight cross-provincial buses have served more than 3.846 million passengers. Online cross-provincial transaction services exceed 3,500 items, with a total number of transactions reaching 116,000.
Gu Jun stated that over the past five years, focusing on regional integrated development, the YRDIPZ has continued to deepen reform and innovation to enhance its demonstration effect. It has explored and formed a working chain of “promoting institutional innovation, implementing reform authorization, and accelerating replication and promotion” by deepening institutional innovation as an “experimental field.”
First, deepen institutional innovation. This year, we have launched 18 new institutional innovation achievements in key areas. We will strengthen planning guidance, basically form a “1+1+N+X” land-space planning system, establish mechanisms for implementing physical examination and evaluation of land-space master plans, and realize a “unified blueprint for the whole region.” We will highlight green development, strengthen joint water protection and co-governance across boundary waters, implement mechanisms for standardizing the ecological environment, monitoring, and law enforcement with “three integrations,” and build a “four beams and eight pillars” ecological protection system. We will also carry out pilot projects on paid use and trading of volatile organic compound emission rights. We will adhere to co-construction and sharing, and have released five batches of 63 co-construction and sharing public service project lists. The national “grand strategy” has brought tangible “small happiness” to the people in the demonstration zone.
Second, implement reform authorization. The Central Regional Office has issued two batches of reform authorization lists, giving the demonstration zone autonomy in 18 reform matters. Currently, seven items have been undertaken, with three of them forming the first single case for reform such as “deepening the linkage reform between industrial park planning environmental impact assessments and project environmental impact assessments.”
Thirdly, conduct quarterly releases. This year, the Central Regional Office has guided the demonstration zone to establish a regular summary and publication mechanism for institutional innovation achievements in the first three quarters, with a total of 10 achievements released in three fields to provide demonstration and reference for other regions.
Meanwhile, focusing on key areas, the demonstration zone has continued to accelerate project construction and promote high-quality development. A total of two rounds of major construction action plans have been implemented over five years.
First, we must grasp construction progress. The Water Town Hall’s Fangxing Water Courtyard has already taken shape and will be completed and put into use next year. The Shanghai Metro Line 17 West Extension project has been completed and put into operation, and the Shanghai-Suzhou-Wuxi Expressway will be officially opened tomorrow (December 26th). The 23km岸线of Gangdang has been fully connected. Projects such as Inno Sattyc Semiconductor Technology’s Everbright New York Cloud Top Hospital have been completed and put into operation, while projects such as the demonstration zone data center cluster and Hengli Yangtze River Delta International New Materials Park are being accelerated.
Second, we must gather key elements for development such as talents. We have established the first cross-provincial high-tech zone in China to promote the establishment of a demonstration zone investment development fund with an advantage of resource pooling from all sides in different provinces and cities that includes technology areas where resources such as talent, capital funds can flow smoothly in both directions more easily across provincial borders due to measures such as cross-regional reporting for provincial (city) level talent plans; finance’s E-enterprise credit platform that has granted cross-border credit to more than 1120 businesses totaling over RMB billions; and wisdom brains that can link up to 18 data links across two provinces and one city gathering up to hundreds of data resources for all entities to improve collaboration across industries by accessing key data resources needed for new technology fields like E-commerce & Internet sectors as well as more traditional sectors like manufacturing or finance through strengthening coordination among different provinces through innovation center clusters that offer technology personnel over thousands more job opportunities in cities like Qingpu which is now home to Huawei’s Liushu Lake R&D center about innovation projects within region or among countries to bring vitality through connections within interprovincial projects focusing on innovative plans by strategic water towns to further nurture new industries or economic drivers in line with government policies which focus on attracting talent across different provinces through various incentive schemes while also promoting interprovincial collaboration through various platforms such as those focused on strengthening cooperation between governments from different regions or provinces while also promoting interprovincial collaboration through various platforms such as those focused on strengthening cooperation between governments promoting policy continuity through institutionalization mechanisms like cross border financial platforms making financial transactions easier among provinces thus enabling more businesses across different provinces or regions alike to benefit from convenient financial services while simultaneously attracting more talents from across China through innovative measures such as online services offering over thousands of services across provinces making it easier for people living far away from cities but still able to access essential services like banking & finance making their lives easier as well as enhancing regional collaboration among neighboring regions or provinces which ultimately leads to a win-win situation for everyone involved when all parties work together towards common goals creating new opportunities in all aspects such as economy culture & society etc..
