Vice Mayor Takes on Yangtze Bridge Economic ParkWang Mingzhen was gazing at the blueprint of Yangtze Bridge Economic Park in his office, while people in this city in east China's Anhui Province celebrated the completion of the bridge on China's National Day.Wang, vice mayor of Wuhu, and vice director of the Yangtze Bridge project, was honored by local government on his outstanding contribution to developing the city's economy. "Two overseas-funded enterprises have signed investment contracts with the economic park after the bridge was put into use," said Wang in an interview with Xinhua today. During the interview, he talked a lot about the bridge and the park, but said little about himself. For 16 years, he has been working hard in starting numerous key projects in Wuhu, including the city's first three overpasses, one of the three largest river ports along the Yangtze River, and the sole economic development zone in the inland city. Wang got a new task in 1996. He would organize the building of the Wuhu Yangtze Bridge, a key national project during the Ninth Five-Year Plan period (1996-2000). The bridge, costing 4.6 billion (about 554 million U.S. dollars), is the last Yangtze bridge built this century and will make Wuhu a new traffic hub along the Yangtze River, the longest in China. Just building a high quality bridge never satisfied him. He had a bolder plan to build an investment park to stimulate the local economy with the bridge as a back-up. With his suggestion, construction of the Yangtze Bridge economic park started last November. Enterprises from Austria, France, Germany and the United States are now discussing some details about investment in this park with their Chinese partners, though the project is still under construction. Wang expressed his resolution to continue working for Wuhu's future prosperity. There seems no end in his career as a project director. |
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