The Information Office of Shanghai Municipality held a municipal government press conference today (July 12) during which Wu Qing, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and Executive Vice Mayor introduced “Implementation Opinions on Accelerating North-South Transformation and Development.” Hua Yuan, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Municipal Government and director of the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Zhang Hongtao, chief engineer of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, Xu Jian, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Planning and Resources, Dong Aihua, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission, Gao Yiyi, head of Baoshan District and Li Zelong, head of Jinshan District, attended the press briefing and answered questions from reporters.

In order to implement the spirits of the 12th Congress of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, speed up the formation of a new spatial pattern focusing on both central areas and two wings, as well as new towns and north-south transformation, and further advance the upgrading of the north and south regions, the Shanghai Municipal Government has recently issued the “Implementation Opinions on Accelerating North-South Transformation and Development”　(“Implementation Opinions”) and “Supporting Policies on Accelerating North-South Transformation and Development” (“Supporting Policies”). Baoshan District and Jinshan District have also separately unveiled their Actions Plans on transformation according to the actual work arrangement. The city has formed a “1+1+2” north-south transformation policy framework (i.e. “Implementation Opinions” + “Supporting Policies” + “Action Plans” of the two districts), therefore basically wrapping up the top-level design.

I. General Considerations of the “Implementation Opinions”

Baoshan District and Jinshan District are carriers of the city’s real economy with a solid foundation of traditional industries, and also important gateways for optimizing the urban spatial pattern and promoting core functions to impact the north and south regions of the Yangtze River Delta. As part of further expansion of the city’s strategy on “three major tasks and one platform,” the north-south transformation will become an important starting point for shaping the city’s strategic spatial map and a key initiative for cultivating new momentum for economic development. In order to better promote the transformation and development of the north and the south regions, three priorities have been highlighted in the process of policy research and formulation.

The first is the perspective of transformation, or how to view the transformation. The north-south transformation should go beyond not only the north-south regions, but also Shanghai to take a perspective of the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta. The north and south regions should give full play to their basic advantages in scientific research, talents and the layout of leading enterprises in traditional industries, focus on key areas like new materials, biopharma, and intelligent equipment, strengthen the leading functions of high-end industries, promote the consolidation and enhancement of the industrial chain in the Yangtze River Delta, and create a world-class riverside and coastal industrial belt. To this end, the “Implementation Opinions” focus on delivering on the national strategic deployment and serving the overall development of the city, while making systematic planning and long-term layout for the north-south transformation.　

The second is the transformation path, or how to enable the transformation. The north-south transformation is a systematic project, so it is necessary to enable precise transformation according to local conditions and address the structural and institutional issues that restrict development. To this end, the “Implementation Opinions” proposed that industrial transformation should be the core, and spatial transformation and governance transformation should be comprehensively coordinated. Among them, the industrial transformation will focus on breaking the structural shackles of “high dependence on leading industries, low industry impact of emerging industries, and poor supporting infrastructure for basic industries,” and building a high-end modern industrial system. Spatial transformation will focus on addressing poor traffic connection between north/south regions and other areas, building a transportation network system with solid internal and external links, and further enhancing the ability to impact the Yangtze River Delta. Governance transformation will focus on solving insufficient pubic facilities and services in such areas as healthcare and affordable housing in the two districts, increasing the supply of high-quality resources, and improving urban soft power in an all-round manner.　

The third is the transformation strategy, or how to promote the transformation. The direction and path of the north-south transformation is clearly defined, but appropriate strategies and methods are also important. The key is to give full play to the role of digital and green empowerment, the demonstration role of key regions during transformation, the leading role of major transportation facilities, and the pioneering role of leading enterprises. To this end, the “Implementation Opinions” proposed to anchor the “dual-carbon” goals to accelerate the green and low-carbon transformation of the industries, create public digital infrastructure on “Internet of Things, Data, and Intelligence,” and promote high-quality resources to be tilted towards key areas like Wusong, Nanda, and Binhai. The city will promote the construction of the transportation hub of Baoshan Station of the North Yangtze River High-speed Railway and the transportation hub of Jinshan Station of the Shanghai-Zhapu-Hangzhou Railway. The city will strengthen all-round cooperation with big universities, research institutions and enterprises in the region, and fully motivate regional market players, especially centrally-owned state enterprises, to participate in the transformation.

II. The main contents of the “Implementation Opinions”

The “Implementation Opinions” includes six parts: overall requirements, functional guidance, industrial transformation, spatial transformation, governance transformation, and supporting measures, which can be generally summarized as “1+4+9”:　

“1” refers to one general requirement. The north-south transformation should take industrial transformation as the core and comprehensively coordinate the spatial transformation and governance transformation, with an aim to build the north and south regions into the main force of green and low-carbon development through holistic and systematic transformation, the model area for the transformation of traditional industrial areas, the ballast stone for the real economy, the new engine for economic and social development, thereby providing solid support for Shanghai to better serve and create the new development pattern. It will adhere to the basic principles of “bravely shouldering the mission, serving the overall priority,” “innovation leadership, green development,” “systematic planning, step-by-step advancement,” and “city-district coordination, and districts playing the key role.” By 2025, it will basically become a role model of modernization transformation with integrated development of industries and cities, agglomeration of emerging industries, and eco- and business-friendly environment. The average annual growth rate of regional GDP will be higher than the city’s average, and the newly added total output value of industries above designated size in the regions will account for more than 20% of the city’s incremental growth.　

“4” refers to key tasks in four major sections. First, it will strengthen functional leadership and fully release the transformation momentum in the north and south regions. The priority is to accurately anchor development positioning and highlight special functions of the transformation. Baoshan will become the main platform to support Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Center, the main urban area of a modern, innovative and eco-friendly international metropolis and the model area of the city’s green and low-carbon transformation. Jinshan will become the important area to advance “Shanghai Manufacturing” brand, the pioneering area to implement the rural revitalization strategy, and the bridgehead for high-quality integrated development in the Yangtze River Delta. Second, it will build a high-end modern industrial system with industrial transformation as the core. The priority is to promote the transformation of the manufacturing industry from the “basic” nature to the “strategic” nature, form a “1+3” industrial system with new materials and biopharma, intelligent equipment, and new-generation information technology as the pillars, promote upgrading of the service industry from the “supportive” nature to the “specialization” nature, promote the optimization of urban agriculture from the “universal” nature to the “benchmarking” nature, anchor the “double carbon” goals to accelerate the green and low-carbon transformation of the industries, and build a green and low-carbon circular economy system. Baoshan will build new industrial clusters in the fields of high-performance steel and other special metal materials, biopharma R&D and manufacturing, intelligent robot body manufacturing. It will foster various commodity trading platforms including the steel trading platform, and build Shanghai International Cruise Tourism Resort in a high-standard manner. Jinshan will expand and strengthen emerging industries such as carbon fiber composite materials, medical device research and development, drone manufacturing and scene applications, while leveraging sea and beaches, cultural resources and other special tourism formats to create new landmarks for cultural tourism consumption, and build a national-level demonstration area for high technology in the agricultural sector. Third, it will focus on spatial transformation to enhance the efficiency of resource and factor allocation. The priority is to build a transportation network system with internal and external connections, and promote the construction of hubs in the north and south regions that are integrated into the comprehensive transportation network of the Yangtze River Delta. Baoshan will become the gateway of North Shanghai, consolidate its role as an important node in the comprehensive transportation corridor along the Yangtze River and the comprehensive coastal transportation corridor, and promote the transformation and development of key areas such as Wusong, Nanda, and Shanghai University Rim. Jinshan will become Shanghai’s southwest transportation hub, strengthen connections with new towns and nearby cities of the Yangtze River Delta, and accelerate the transformation and development of Shanghai Chemical Industry Zone and Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Zone, Shanghai Bay Area High-tech Industrial Development Zone (formerly Jinshan Industrial Zone) and Shanghai Carbon Valley Green Bay Industrial Park (formerly Jinshan Second Industrial Zone) and coastal areas. Fourth, it will leverage governance transformation to enhance the city’s soft power in an all-round way. The priority is to give equal priority to “making up for weakness” and “improving quality” in public services, “digitalization” and “refinement” in urban governance, and “strengthening investment promotion” and “optimizing services” in the business environment. Baoshan will support Shanghai University to become a university with a top ranking and world-class subjects, build a regional diagnosis and treatment center for intractable diseases, and leverage the unified government service network to create a benchmark for digital transformation of urban governance. Jinshan will build a new highland for vocational education and introduce top-tier and general hospitals in a bid to be a role model of refined management and strong governance on public safety and environmental protection.

“9” refers to supporting policies in nine aspects. Together with the “Implementation Opinions,” the “Supporting Policies on Accelerating North-South Transformation and Development” were also released, focusing on nine aspects such as talent attraction, housing supply, land supply, and fiscal/taxation support with 15 policy measures. Among them, there are clearly-defined policies for five new towns, and these policies in principle are applicable to key transformation areas in the north and south regions. The policy support will cover talent settlement and residence permit points, the development of affordable rental housing, and the promotion of mixed functions of the industrial land. At the same time, it will strengthen system and policy innovation in the transformation of key areas, revitalization of low-efficiency land, and cultivation of new areas and revamp of existing areas in these industries. For example, it will support state-owned assets and state-owned enterprises to enhance efficiency assessment of land output. It aims to jointly build a demonstration area for transformation and cooperation between central state-owned enterprise and local governments. It will support construction of major transportation projects. The municipal government has been actively facilitating the signing of the strategic cooperation agreement between China Baowu and Sinopec, two central state-owned enterprises in Baoshan and Jinshan respectively. The purpose is to fully mobilize central state-owned enterprises to participate in the north-south transformation, promote the green and low-carbon development in the steel and chemical industries through central-local cooperation, cultivate emerging industrial clusters on new materials and new energy, and accelerate the development of producer service industries on technology research and development and supply chain management.

In the next phase, the entire city will cooperate closely to form a joint force to carefully deliver on the organization and implementation of the “Implementation Opinions,” insist on creating new miracles with hard work, demonstrate new attitudes with concrete actions, motivate diverse entities, pull the strengths of multiple parties, and open a new chapter in the north-south transformation in an active way.