Hong Kong Companies To Benefit From Guangxi Modernisation Push

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

22 August 2002

Hong Kong companies are set to benefit from a modernisation push by China's southern province of Guangxi. According to the South China Morning Post, top officials from the province will sign deals for infrastructure investment worth more than US$2 billion when they visit the SAR next week.

Projects include hotel construction (with Kerry Group) and other tourist development in Guilin, a famous beauty spot, and the construction of highways, port facilities and water supply infrastructure.

Guangxi chairman Li Zhaozhuo said his province had to seize the opportunities offered by China's entry to the World Trade Organisation. "We have to make use of foreign capital to speed up the process," Mr Li said. Guilin has already spent almost a billion yuan ($130m) on improving infrastructure and cleaning up the environment in order to boost tourism, and has allocated a further three billion yuan for the effort.

Last week, the province requested permission from Beijing to build two free-trade zones on its border with Vietnam; and it hopes to attract manufacturing industries leaving the neighbouring province of Guangdong to seek lower production costs and easier access to raw materials.

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