SHANGHAI: As Shanghai's hinterland, connecting the south and north of the Yangtze River Delta, Huzhou has started to pick up steam by promoting its location and logistics environment to entice more talent from the country's financial hub as the clock for the 2010 World Expo is ticking.

The 5,818 sq km city with 2.58 million people, located in the north of Zhejiang province and 120 km away from Shanghai, has long been famed for its stunning lakeside scenery and lush bamboo, and less developed industrial sector, particularly compared to other cities nearby.

The local government held an "activity week" of cooperation between Huzhou and Shanghai from November 10-14 to seek more investment leeway to bolster the city's sustainable growth. And hunting for top brains has become a priority.

More then 30 top local companies with 71 management vacancies attended a recruitment conference for high-end management talents as part of the conference. A strategic cooperation agreement was also inked between Huzhou Talent Market and Shanghai Human Resources Consulting Association during the conference.

"The shortage of qualified talent is the major stumbling block in the development of Huzhou's hi-tech industry," Cai Xiaofan, director of personnel bureau in Huzhou city, said at a press briefing.

"Employing good quality staff with a low mobility rate is a key driver for business development and promotes the upgrade of technology," says an assessment report of Huzhou's investment environment by the world's largest accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

And apart from government-level promotions, one of the easiest ways to attract top talent is through big-name companies.

The good news is that enticed by the city's geographical location, ample land supply and cutting-edge logistics facilities, more companies and quality people are heading for Huzhou.

As the Yangtze River Delta accelerates its regional integration steps, companies can easily purchase the majority of raw materials and fit within a "2-hour economic circle," PwC says in the report.

"Enterprises based in Huzhou benefit from its geographical edge in the Yangtze River Delta area, which helps them to boost the expansion of downstream business and penetrate the customer market," the report says.

Hisense, the country's leading air-conditioner maker, says in a report that since establishing itself in the city in 2005, its business has increased at the rate of 100 percent annually.

"At least 80 percent of the market belongs to the Yangtze Delta region, hence, our location in Huzhou gives us easier access to market information and end customers."

According to National Development and Reform Commission, the GDP of the 16 cities in the Yangtze River Delta , which contains 11 percent of China's population, reached 3.94 trillion yuan in the first three quarters, comprising 19.5 percent of total GDP in the country.

And Huzhou city has been listed in the "Plan and develop as a priority" plan in the region led by the Shanghai Pudong New Area.

In addition, the cost of land is another vital factor that has been taken into consideration by prospective enterprises willing to move into the city at this time.

According to PwC's survey, ample, competitively priced land reserves for industrial use can meet the demand of large-scale manufacturing enterprises.

Huzhou could supply 2,471 acres of industrial land each year and the unit cost of developing land is around 1.4 million yuan per acre, the local National Land Bureau says on its website.

If compared to the average cost of industrial land and rents in Suzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai Minhang, Beijing and Guangzhou, Huzhou's is competitive, PwC concludes.

For investors, a mature and convenient logistics environment also counts.

Dehua Group, under which there's a publicly listed decoration material supplier, delivers most of its raw materials to Zhangjiang Port and then transports them to Huzhou via waterways and roads, saying that half of its products are sold to the Yangtze River Delta and now can easily get to the eastern China markets through transportation network at a low cost in Huzhou.

"Huzhou has an advanced road system and convenient access to many ports," the company points out.

According to the Huzhou Almanac of 2004-2007, the transportation capacity was 163 million tons, up 6.6 percent year-on-year, in 2007 alone. While boosted by the Shensuzhewan (Shanghai-Suzhou-Zhejiang-Anhui) and Shenjiahu (Shanghai-Jiaxing-Huzhou) expressways, both of which opened to traffic last year, more opportunities for logistics development to the city are likely to emerge.

Huzhou posted 74.067 billion yuan GDP in the first three quarters, ranked 15th of all the 16 cities in the Yangtze River Delta. And the growth rate was down 3.6 percent from the same period in the previous year to 10.7 percent.

(China Daily 12/01/2008 page10)