A PROPOSED State-level free trade zone in Nanshan District could serve as an experimental base for further integrating the Pearl River Delta region. The proposal was submitted by more than 100 advisers to the national political advisory body that is meeting in Beijing.
The Qianhai and Houhai areas, which are located in the western part of the Shekou peninsula in Nanshan, are an ideal place to house the free trade zone because of their vast area and proximity to Hong Kong, said the proposal, which was initiated by advisers Li Guikang, Huang Chubiao and Zhang Guoliang.
“The two neighborhoods cover an area of nearly 30 square kilometers, much bigger than the Lok Ma Chau Loop,” said Huang. “It (the free trade zone in Shekou) will be able to house more companies and financial institutions than the loop.”
Lok Ma Chau Loop is in the restricted border zone between the Lok Ma Chau and Huanggang checkpoints. It has been in the spotlight during the past year since it was announced that it will be jointly developed by the governments of Shenzhen and Hong Kong as a free trade zone for industries with high added value and few pollutants.
Huang said the development of the Lok Ma Chau Loop will take far longer than setting up a free trade zone in the Qianhai-Houhai area.
“The study of the loop alone will last until October 2011 since it begins in June,” he said. “This is really time- and money-consuming.”
In contrast, the Qianhai-Houhai area is a traffic hub linking a number of expressways between Hong Kong, Shenzhen and other Pearl River Delta cities. “Convenient traffic is vital to economic development. And the area is also adjacent to the Hong Kong and Shenzhen airports,” Huang said.
In the proposal, business and financial activities in the free trade zone would operate and be managed under the commercial system of Hong Kong, which is compatible with international norms.
Individual investors on the mainland would be allowed to invest in the Hong Kong stock market through financial institutions in the Qianhai-Houhai trade zone, according to the proposal. “Investment in futures, securities and other financial products in Hong Kong which is not available to mainland investors, could be done in the zone,” said Li.
(Wei Jie)