Hai'an High-tech Industrial Development Zone has seen four major projects costing over 1 billion yuan each – and 10 projects costing 100 million yuan each – start construction in the first quarter of 2022. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

In response to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hai'an High-tech Industrial Development Zone – located in the county-level city of Hai'an in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province – has resolutely remained focused on attracting more investment.

It has helped its enterprises solve problems in the development process and promoted the high-quality construction of major projects, even while closely abiding by anti-epidemic regulations and measures.

One resident group – Xinglu (Hai'an) New Materials Co Ltd – showed the way, investing 5 billion yuan ($751 million) in the zone to build a production plant for high-performance nylon cord fabric in March last year. It is regarded as a key project, to help promote the transformation and upgrading of Hai'an's nylon industry. Its annual sales are projected to hit 6 billion yuan after reaching design capacity.

The company has had a relatively large demand for energy since the project was launched. After learning about the situation, staff members of the zone went to Nanjing and Nantong several times to help the business apply for energy consumption indicators and to get energy assessment reports approved.

As a result, the relevant provincial department approved the energy consumption allocation for Xinglu New Materials.

The Hai'an High-tech Industrial Development Zone has also launched a "one-to-one" service system for those industrial projects worth over 100 million yuan each. One company, Celxpert (Nantong) Electronics Co Ltd, received 1 billion yuan in investment. It is a Taiwan-funded firm moving from Kunshan – a county-level city administered by Suzhou in Jiangsu province – to Hai'an.

In order to reduce the visits of the investor amid the epidemic, the investment promotions bureau of the zone helped resolve a number of problems linked to the plant's construction, equipment purchases and the epidemic protection of its staff.

It did so by means of non-contact administrative approvals and online communications, which effectively guaranteed the smooth construction of the project.