Building a cross provincial urban circle, Fuyang wants to unite a group of Henan and Anhui little brothers. Fuyang | City | Urban Circle
A few days ago, an investment and trade negotiation conference was held in Fuyang, Anhui. The "Fuyang Urban Circle" attracted the attention of reporters - at the conference, leaders from 13 adjacent counties and cities in Henan and Anhui provinces from within the Fuyang Urban Circle organized a delegation to attend. Fuyang and the 13 county governments jointly signed the Fuyang Urban Circle Urban Cooperation Agreement, which will jointly promote the integration and development of the Yangtze River Delta, high-quality development in the central region, the integration of major regional strategies such as the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration and the Huaihe River Ecological Economic Belt. At the same time, the goal is to jointly build the Fuyang Urban Circle into a demonstration zone for coordinated urban development between Anhui and Henan and an emerging growth pole.
Fuyang, Anhui, in my impression, is a populous city and also a labor export city. Why does it seem that suddenly there is a strong centripetal force that can gather into the urban circle?
From a geographical perspective, Fuyang is located in the "blank area" of urban agglomerations such as Nanjing, Hefei, Wuhan, and Zhengzhou. However, it is also the bridgehead of the Yangtze River Delta's linkage with the Central Plains urban agglomeration and the integration of the Central Plains urban agglomeration into the Yangtze River Delta's integrated development.
The Fuyang urban agglomeration is indeed a relatively new concept. In 2021, the report of the 11th Party Congress of Anhui Province first proposed the Fuyang urban agglomeration - promoting the linkage between Hefei urban agglomeration and the development of Fuyang urban agglomeration; The "Anhui Province New Urbanization Plan" issued in March of the following year further clarified the promotion of the construction of the Fuyang urban agglomeration. The Fuyang Urban Circle, with a radius of 100 kilometers, covers 7 prefecture level cities and 21 counties in Anhui and Henan provinces, with a total area of 34330 square kilometers and a total population of nearly 30 million. It is a cross provincial urban circle, and the GDP of the region is nearly 800 billion yuan in 2022.
Although Fuyang is far from the central area of the Yangtze River Delta, it has indeed become a hub in recent years with the construction of transportation infrastructure. As an important transportation hub in the central region of the country, there are six directions of railways intersecting here. Fuyang North Station is the largest freight marshalling yard in East China, and Fuyang High Speed Rail West Station is the second largest high-speed rail hub in Anhui Province. Residents of Zhoukou, Xinyang, and other places in Henan also go to Fuyang to take the high-speed rail. Meanwhile, Fuyang Xiguan Airport is the second largest airport in Anhui Province, located only 700 meters away from the high-speed railway station. This area is known as "Xiaohongqiao" and can achieve zero transfer like Shanghai Hongqiao Airport and Hongqiao Railway Station. It is also an air rail intermodal transportation hub. Transportation is only one of the advantages of Fuyang, in addition to prominent advantages such as population, location, policies, and agriculture. Fuyang not only needs to build an urban circle, but also a sub central city in Anhui Province. According to statistics, from 2010 to 2020, the average GDP growth rate of Fuyang ranked second among prefecture level cities in China, ranking first in total in northern Anhui, and entering the top 100 cities in the country.
Whether it is building an urban agglomeration or a provincial sub center, Fuyang has a benchmark city - Xuzhou, Jiangsu. Xuzhou and Fuyang have similarities. They are both located in a corner of the province, important railway hubs, and economic hubs in the central and northern parts of their respective provinces. In recent years, the radiation driving effect of Xuzhou has been continuously strengthened. The 14th Five Year Plan of Jiangsu Province clearly states that the province will build three metropolitan areas: Nanjing metropolitan area, Suzhou Wuxi Changzhou metropolitan area, and Xuzhou metropolitan area; From a regional perspective, in October 2018, the Development Plan for the Huaihe River Ecological Economic Belt formulated by the National Development and Reform Commission was released, positioning Xuzhou as the central city of the Huaihai Economic Zone.
However, for Fuyang, in order to truly transform its urban agglomeration from a "positioning" to a "status", it is necessary to enhance the city's level in all aspects, enhance its radiation and driving capabilities.
