Wuhan aims to be a central city

Tang Liangzhi, the mayor of Wuhan, has issued a call for his city to be a major metropolis in central China.

"The main point in promoting the rise of Central China policy is developing urbanization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and essential to that is supporting Wuhan in its application to be the national central city," he said.

Tang was speaking during the National People's Congress in Beijing in a discussion held by the Hubei delegation on its media open day. He highlighted the determination of the local government to achieve the city's promotion and rejuvenation.

The words, "urbanization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River" were selected to be the most poignant sentence discussed by the Hubei Delegation during the NPC and China People's Political Consultative Conference. Speaking on the media open day during a news conference, Tang gave a talk on the topics of urbanization in the middle reaches of Yangtze River and establishing Wuhan's national central city status.

Premier Wen Jiabao has put great stress on enhancing the efforts of implementing the rise of Central China policy.

"In my view, to promote the rise of the center, we are desperate to figure out accurately the main point and the breakthrough point. Speaking of the main point, the government needs to create more urbanization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River according to the consensus agreed by Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi provinces. As for the breakthrough point, I strongly think Wuhan should be the national central city," Tang said.

"Developing urbanization and further promoting the rise of central China require a national central city with powerful and all-encompassing strength to motivate the entire process and stimulate inspiration," he added.

China has defined Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjing, Chongqing and Guangzhou as nationally significant cities. They are located in the east, south, west and north of China. Currently, there is no central Chinese city with the same relevance.

"Wuhan already possesses the fundamental qualifications to be a national central city," said Tang, adding that Wuhan's economic strength is nationally competitive and its gross domestic product is top among all cities in central China. In 2011, Wuhan's GDP was 650 billion yuan, putting it in 13th place in the nation's city rankings. In addition, the city's education and technological strength, its transit hub status, as well as several national supporting policies, made it clear that Wuhan was important to the nation's development.

Tang spoke of further developing the city's "real" economy and constructing a national advanced manufacturing center. He said that in 2011, the industrial investment capital in Wuhan reached 120.2 billion yuan, a 42 percent increase on 2010. It is forecast that in 2016 the industrial investment fund will be 1 trillion yuan ($154 billion).

"Industry is one of the most powerful props for the city's development," said Tang, adding that Wuhan will make efforts to improve congestion problems and become a center for buying fashionable products. It will also be a logistics, conference and exhibition center as well as an engineering design center and a regional financial center. Taking advantage of Wuhan's highly qualified educational resources, the city will establish its own higher education center, make itself the main medical service center in central China and become a regional center for international cultural exchange as part of its mission to promote itself as a hub of central China.