Chengdu poised for increasing urbanization

Senior officials in Southwest China's Sichuan Province told a gathering of global investors in the provincial capital Chengdu Saturday that the city is on track for further urbanization, and it welcomes global investments.

Over the past 12 years, the province has achieved an industrialization rate of 40.3 percent and an urbanization rate of 43.5 percent, while multiplying its GDP six-fold, Wei Hong, the governor of Sichuan Province, told the Fortune Global Forum, which was held in Chengdu from Thursday to Saturday.

Along with the further development of western China and industrial transfer from the coastal regions to inland areas will come many more business opportunities, and the province welcomes global investors to get involved in the new industrial supply chain, particularly in Chengdu, Wei said.

With the right kind of policy incentives, China may realize an overall urbanization rate of 65 to 70 percent in 2030, the China Institute for Reform and Development wrote in an article published in the Guangming Daily Saturday.

During the three-day forum, Chengdu witnessed the signing of 74 local projects by multinational and domestic companies, worth a total of 112 billion yuan ($18.3 billion), the People's Daily reported Saturday.

The projects include a manufacturing base with investment from US company Texas Instruments and a machinery equipment production base with investment from Singapore's Flextronics.

The launch of these projects will play a significant role in the city's industrial upgrade and economic growth, according to the report.

Serving global companies means creating a business-friendly environment, Ge Honglin, the mayor of Chengdu, told the same forum.

Chengdu has worked hard to solve the housing issues for workers in big manufacturers and for university graduates, Ge said.

"In the city center of around 4 million square kilometers, the population increased by nearly 1.3 million from 2010 to 2012," the mayor said.

Betting on rapid population growth in the city, Singapore-based developer Capitaland Group is building "aggressively" in Chengdu, Liew Mun Leong, the company's founding president, told the forum Saturday.

Capitaland opened its massive mixed development Raffles City in Chengdu in September 2012. The project offers 400,000 square meters in gross floor area, and cost 5 billion yuan, making it the company's biggest investment in China so far, Liew said.

Besides public housing, there are also opportunities for private companies to build affordable apartments in Chengdu, he noted.