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WanzhouWanzhou is a city of around 1.71m people, situated halfway between Chongqing and Yichang at the heart of the 600km-long Three Gorges Reservoir. The second largest city in Chongqing municipality, it is situated about 230km to the northeast of Chongqing city. It has been an important river port for centuries and a distribution centre for industrial and agricultural products.
In 2000, about 230,000 Wanzhou residents were relocated to make way for the creation of the Three Gorges Dam. The old city centre, which contained many historic buildings and bridges, was demolished in 2001-02. Half of the old city was submerged by June 2003, when the second phase of damming of the Three Gorges Reservoir brought the water level up to 135 metres. A new city on higher ground has been built to house displaced residents.
Wanzhou’s poor infrastructure, especially in terms of communications and energy, has hindered its development, and it has lagged far behind Chongqing proper in both social and economic terms. The city is home to many of the municipality’s poorest citizens and contains an estimated 250,000 migrant workers. Nevertheless, thousands more rural residents could be relocated to the city in coming years.
Major local industries include chemicals, pharmaceuticals, environmentally-friendly construction materials, food processing and textiles. Wanzhou has extensive reserves of gas and rock salt. A strategic oil reserve is also to be built in the city, subject to central government approval. The base will be the first of its kind in the interior of the country.
Despite being poor, Wanzhou has managed steady economic and social progress in recent years. Foreign companies have a very limited presence.
Chongqing Sote Group, a major domestic salt producer, is expanding into the chemical industry by exploiting Wanzhou’s rich reserves of rock salt and natural gas. Along with other domestic companies, Sote is developing a special chemical industry park that is claimed will become Asia’s biggest salt production unit.
Jiangsu-based Daqo Group is building a polycrystal silicon project in Wanzhou which, when fully completed in 2009, will be the largest of its kind in China. Polycrystal silicon is used in the production of solar cells, semiconductors and LCDs; Chongqing municipality has abundant silicon resources.
Chongqing Yudong ETDZ, located in the southeast of Wanzhou on the eastern bank of the Yangtze, is a municipal-level development zone that covers an area of nearly 22 sq km. Enterprises in the zone are engaged mainly in sectors such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electronic and electrical appliances, and foodstuffs.
Chongqing Wanzhou Industrial Zone, situated within the chemical industry park initiated by Sote, is a newly established municipal-level development zone. With an initial area of 10 sq km, the zone will focus on sectors such as machinery, electronics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, textiles and agricultural products processing.
Transport connections have improved in recent years. The Daxian-Wanzhou Railway was opened to traffic in 2002, while the Wanzhou-Yichang line should be operational in 2009. An inter-city express railway linking Wanzhou with Chongqing is planned. It will reduce the travel time between Chongqing and Wanzhou from two-and-a-half hours to one hour.
The Chongqing-Wanzhou, Wanzhou-Kaixian and Wanzhou-Yunyang expressways are operational. The Wanzhou-Yichang expressway is set to open in 2010. National Highway 318, which connects Shanghai and Youyiqiao in Tibet, passes through the city.
The Three Gorges Dam has changed the fortunes of Wanzhou port, which has emerged as the only good deepwater port beyond Wuhan on the upper Yangtze. In the past, the river at Wanzhou was only 150 metres wide at the narrowest. The creation of the reservoir has increased this to 800 metres wide and has enabled Wanzhou to accommodate vessels of 10,000 dwt.
Container throughput was 16,800 teu in 2007, up 29 per cent over the previous year. Freight throughput increased 30 per cent to 8.33m tons, up. Improved water conditions will allow barges of 250-300 teu capacity to replace the current 100 teu vessels, helping to accelerate the growth of container traffic.
Wanzhou handles a variety of goods, including crude oil and derivatives, natural gas, coal, iron and steel, grain, non-metal ore, fertiliser and medical products. It has also established a position in recent years as a specialist ro-ro cargo handler.
The city is now plugged into a comprehensive transport network that enables it to accept transit cargo from a wide hinterland beyond Chongqing. The local government has an ambitious plan to transform Wanzhou into the largest logistics centre in the region after Chongqing – a goal it is well placed to achieve.
Controlled by Wanzhou Port Group, the port is in the throes of a major expansion programme that began in 2005, with planned investment of Rmb2.18bn by 2020. This includes a programme to restore some of the facilities submerged by the rising water levels of the reservoir. In particular, the existing general-purpose berths of Hongxigou Terminal are being converted to handle bulk cargo.
In addition, work is now under way on the Rmb1.2bn Jiangnan Tuokou Container Terminal. This involves the construction of four 3,000 dwt container berths with a total annual capacity of 400,000 teu.
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