Hubei drives high-quality regional development through its urban agglomeration (High Quality Development Research Tour)
In the 100000 level dust-free workshop of Hubei Xinying Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. in Gedian Economic and Technological Development Zone, Ezhou City, Hubei Province, there is a busy scene, with thousands of automated machines running at high speed for production. LED beads with diameters ranging from 0.4 to 2.7 millimeters are gradually produced and supplied to Wuhan optoelectronic display manufacturing enterprises through processes such as drying, vacuum packaging, labeling, and shipping.
"The optoelectronic information industry is the dominant industry in Wuhan Optics Valley. The company chose to settle in Gedian Development Zone because of its proximity to Optics Valley, convenient transportation, and complete upstream and downstream supporting facilities in the industry chain." Wang Jianhua, Deputy General Manager of Xinying Optoelectronics, introduced that Wuhan Metro directly reaches Gedian, and the roads are in all directions, making it very convenient for the company to purchase and ship goods.
In recent years, Hubei has promoted the development of urban agglomerations led by central cities and the high-quality development of regions driven by urban agglomerations, and the integration of Wuhan, Hubei, Yellow River and Yellow River has shown a promising trend.
Wuhan, Ezhou, Huanggang, and Huangshi are the core areas of the Wuhan metropolitan area. In April 2021, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued opinions on promoting high-quality development in the central region in the new era, clearly proposing to support the construction of urban agglomerations such as Wuhan, Changsha Zhuzhou Xiangtan, Zhengzhou, Hefei, and the central urban agglomeration of Shanxi. Last year, the Development Plan for Wuhan Urban Circle was officially approved by the National Development and Reform Commission.
The Wu'e Yellow River industry has a good foundation and close connections with each other, and it has the conditions to take the lead in achieving urbanization. Last December, the outline of the planning and construction of the Wuhan Hubei Yellow River was issued; In February this year, the Wuhan New City Plan was released. This new city, spanning Wuhan and Ezhou, will be planned and constructed as the center of the Wuhan Hubei Yellow River urban area, becoming the main engine leading the high-quality development of the Wuhan metropolitan area.
Integrated development requires transportation to take the lead. Workers are carrying out the lifting operation of concrete hollow slabs on the short Zuilihu Bridge, which is nearly a kilometer long. "This bridge is a transportation hub connecting Wuhan Optics Valley and Ezhou Gedian," said Wang Zhi, an on-site engineer at the Gedian Infrastructure Command of China Construction Third Bureau Urban Investment and Operation Co., Ltd. The bridge widening project is expected to be completed before next year's Spring Festival. At that time, the bridge will change from a two-way 4-lane to a two-way 8-lane, further facilitating transportation between Wuhan and Ezhou. Centered around the integration of transportation, Hubei Province is accelerating the construction of a rapid road system, focusing on opening up bottleneck and dead end roads, implementing road expansion and quality improvement projects, and connecting important hubs such as Ezhou Huahu Airport and Huangshi New Port. As of the end of July, 32 projects of the expressway system have started construction, with a completed investment of 7.13 billion yuan.
Integrated development requires coordinated industries. The three-year action plan for the development of the Wuhan metropolitan area, issued in February this year, proposes to focus on advantageous industries such as optoelectronic information, high-end equipment, and life and health, and promote industrial synergy and linkage; Promote the orderly transfer of general manufacturing industry in Wuhan to surrounding cities, gradually forming an integrated industrial development pattern with the main chain in Wuhan and supporting facilities in the urban agglomeration.
Looking north from the Short Mouth Lake Bridge, it is the industrial hub of Wuhan's billion dollar display panel industry - Optics Valley Left Ridge. There are well-known display panel companies such as Tianma Microelectronics and Huaxing Optoelectronics located there. The neighboring Gedian Development Zone in Ezhou has gradually formed a new display device industry cluster, which was selected as the first batch of provincial-level strategic emerging industry clusters announced by the Hubei Provincial Development and Reform Commission last year.
"Optics Valley has' screens', and Gedian produces' chips' as supporting products." Qiu Jianming, director of the Gedian Development Zone Management Committee, said that Gedian Development Zone has gradually introduced multiple display chip projects and jointly built an optoelectronic information industry cluster with Optics Valley, initially forming an industrial chain closed loop with San'an Optoelectronics as the upstream for LED chip research and development and production, Xinying Optoelectronics and Ruihua Optoelectronics as the midstream for LED chip packaging, and Huaxing Optoelectronics and Tianma Microelectronics as the downstream for LED module integration.
Entering the Huangshi Ruike Laser Intelligent Manufacturing Base, employees dressed in white dust-free clothes are operating CNC equipment, rushing to produce various types of lasers and components. "The company plans to gradually transfer the production capacity of its Wuhan base to Huangshi, achieving research and development in Wuhan and production in Huangshi," said Yan Dapeng, Vice Chairman of Wuhan Ruike Fiber Laser Technology Co., Ltd.
Huanggang and Wuhan Optics Valley jointly build a technology industrial park to develop leading industries such as optoelectronic information, intelligent manufacturing equipment, and medical devices; Huangshi and Wuhan have formed an industrial alliance, with 121 large-scale industrial enterprises supporting Wuhan's industries; The largest professional freight airport in Asia, Ezhou Huahu Airport, has been put into use, driving surrounding cities to actively layout the aviation industry... In recent years, Wuhan, Hubei, and Huanghuang have been based on differentiated positioning, orderly cooperation, and integrated development of the same city, accelerating.