
Jinan, capital of eastern China's Shandong province, is planning to establish three high-end industrial clusters to support the city's shift to new growth drivers.
The three industrial clusters, covering a combined area of 37 square kilometers, will focus on the development of eco-friendly construction, intelligent manufacturing, and high-end hydrogen energy equipment manufacturing, respectively.
The three clusters are intended to form a world-class advanced manufacturing cluster with an industrial scale of nearly 400 billion yuan ($56.5 billion).
The industrial cluster focusing on eco-friendly construction covers an area of six square meters and aims to build the country's largest eco-friendly urban construction demonstration zone alongside the Yellow River.
The cluster will feature an eco-friendly design, make use of eco-friendly materials, make use of eco-friendly intelligent construction processes, operate in a low-carbon eco-friendly manner, and consist of eco-friendly infrastructure.
The high-end hydrogen energy equipment manufacturing cluster is located in Laiwu district and covers an area of 13 square meters.
One project being undertaken in the cluster is an intelligent heavy truck project sponsored by Sinotruk and costing 153.5 billion yuan. It is the most expensive and largest project currently being undertaken in Jinan.
The project will consist of construction on an advanced comprehensive vehicle test ground servicing intelligent forklifts, intelligent logistics equipment, and heavy trucks.
The cluster will use the heavy truck project to try to attract a number of companies. Kion Group, a Fortune Global 500 company, has already agreed to set up operations in the cluster. The area also boasts strong an industrial foundation consisting of a high-quality steel industry base, rich hydrogen resources, and artificial intelligence technology.
The intelligent manufacturing industrial cluster is located east of the Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport and has an area of 18 square meters.
It is conveniently accessible via the airport, high-speed main lines, urban metro line, and shipping lines in Xiaoqing River.
The cluster has also attracted a number of Fortune Global 500 companies such as Bosch, Continental AG, VOSS, Hengst Filtration, and Sysmex.
The area plans to ramp up efforts to develop a number of intelligent manufacturing sectors, including semiconductors, electronic information, aviation, and medical equipment.
In addition, the Jinan government is providing financial support to speed up the construction of the industrial clusters. It will offer seven percent of its fixed asset investment in intelligent manufacturing clusters as a special reward fund.