Thursday, October 26, 2000, updated at 16:32(GMT+8)
Business
Panxi to Become China's Ruhr
Panxi (Western Panzhihua) of Sichuan Province will be built into China's Ruhr, Germany's most important base of industrial resources and "industrial center".
Those are the remarks made by Secretary Zhou Yongkang of CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee at China West Forum. In the mountains and valleys of Panzhihua, a modern "steel city" and Asia's largest Er'tan hydropower station have been erected and there is also the world known Xichang Satellite Launching Center launched nearby. Though occupying merely about 0.7% of China's land, Sichuan Province has a great wealth of water resources, minerals, animals and plants and this is as shown by a proven deposit of 13% of China's iron, 69% of its vanadium, 93% of the country's titanium and 13% of its hydraulic resources.
According to Zhou, Panxi will, as has been set by its plan, put its stress on hydropower and power-consuming industrial production. Special steel production is to be developed and comprehensive utilization of vanadium, titanium and rare-earth resources will be well made. Meanwhile, with land resources to be rationally exploited an ecological economy will be developed.
Panxi (Western Panzhihua) of Sichuan Province will be built into China's Ruhr, Germany's most important base of industrial resources and "industrial center".