Keppel signs MOU with Guangzhou Government to study commercial feasibility of jointly developing the proposed Knowledge City in Guangzhou

Published on March 24, 2009 by brooks | This story has been viewed 1,075 views

Keppel Corporation, through its special purpose vehicle, Knowledge City Pte Ltd, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Guangzhou Municipal Government through its Guangzhou Development District (GDD) Administrative Committee to conduct a feasibility study on jointly developing the proposed Knowledge City in Guangzhou, China.

The MOU was signed by Mr Lim Chee Onn, Chairman of Keppel Corporation and Mr Xue Xiaofeng, Standing Committee Member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Guangzhou Committee and Chairman of the Guangzhou Development District Administrative Committee and witnessed by Singapore’s Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, Senior Minister of State for National Development and Education Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State for Education, and Information, Communication and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew, Member of Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the CPC Guangdong Committee Wang Yang, Standing Committee Member of CPC Guangdong Committee and Guangzhou Party Secretary Zhu Xiaodan, Guangdong Vice Governor Wan Qingliang, Guangzhou Mayor Zhang Guangning, and other dignitaries.

The concept of a Knowledge City in Guangdong was proposed by Keppel and accepted by the Guangdong Provincial Government for further joint feasibility study. The Knowledge City is envisaged to be a vibrant and ecologically friendly city with conducive conditions for attracting and developing talent, skilled manpower and knowledge-based industries. The Knowledge City will be positioned as a model and catalyst for Guangdong Province’s industrial upgrading and ecologically sustainable growth.

Mr Lim said, “The Knowledge City project dovetails with Guangdong Province’s strategy for industrial upgrading and environmental enhancement. We hope to be able to make a contribution to the further development of Guangdong. The project also once again demonstrates the unique value proposition that we can bring to our overseas partners by integrating the expertise in Singapore’s development experience from the public and private sectors through commercial projects like the Knowledge City.”

Mr Xue said, “We are pleased to work with Singapore and Keppel on the development of the Knowledge City. Through sincere cooperation, we hope the Knowledge City would become a core platform for the development of knowledge-based economy, an important engine for the industrial transformation and upgrading in Guangdong, and a good example of successful collaboration between the Chinese and Singapore parties in the development of liveable and economically vibrant cities, thereby playing a leading role in advancing the scientific development, and early realisation of Guangdong Party Secretary Wang Yang’s vision of ‘the future of Guangzhou’.”

While the Knowledge City project is commercially driven, it enjoys the strong support from the Singapore and Guangdong governments. Technical experts from Singapore government agencies and companies including the National Environment Agency, Urban Redevelopment Authority, Public Utilities Board, Ascendas and Surbana will complement Keppel Group’s expertise to conduct the feasibility study jointly with our Guangzhou partners.

The joint feasibility study is expected to take four months to complete. Both parties intend to proceed to jointly develop the Knowledge City if the project is assessed to be commercially viable and based on mutually agreeable terms. Keppel intends to form a consortium of investors for this purpose.

The proposed Knowledge City will be a greenfield development of about 50 sq km. The Guangdong Provincial Government and Keppel have jointly decided that the site for the Knowledge City shall be located at the GDD North Zone in the eastern part of Guangzhou Municipality. This site is about 35 km from the Guangzhou city centre and 24 km from the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and well served by expressways. The government is considering extending the Guangzhou mass rapid transit network to the proposed site. The proposed site is currently very sparsely populated and the land-use intensity is very low.

The Knowledge City would play a strategic role in the development of the Pearl River Delta region. In January 2009, the Chinese Central Government announced The Outline of the Plan for Reform and Development of the Pearl River Delta (2008-2020). The Plan pointed out its “support for the Guangzhou state-level development districts to innovate and experiment new development models” and “a priority is to speed up the planning and construction of Guangzhou Development District Science City (North Zone)”. The Knowledge City will be located in this North Zone.

Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong Province, has favourable conditions to develop knowledge-based industries. It has a strong talent base which accounts for about 60% of new graduates in Guangdong every year. Its 63 colleges and universities have a total of some 679,300 students and graduate 137,400 of them each year. The city boasts 124 technology and research centres, of which 16 are state-level and 44 provincial-level. Guangzhou is also located in the heart of Guangdong Province, an economic powerhouse. The Province has the highest GDP among all provinces and municipalities in China. It also has China’s largest industrial output and domestic retail market.

The Knowledge City project is another major initiative of Keppel Corporation’s Sustainable Development and Living Business Division which was established last August to pursue business opportunities presented by the global thrust into sustainable development and eco-friendly living.

Keppel Corporation, a Singapore multinational company, has key businesses in Offshore & Marine, Property and Infrastructure. Harnessing its core competencies and global network across 35 countries, Keppel is creating new solutions, clean technologies and sustainable developments to improve the environment and quality of life. Keppel has also played a lead role in the development of the Suzhou Industrial Park and Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City in China.

GDD was founded in 1984, among the first-batch of state-level development zones. Today, GDD ranks among the top of the 54 state-level development zones in various economic indicators. To date, it has attracted more than 10,000 investment projects, including 2,600 enterprises with foreign investments, 103 of which are from among the world’s top 500 enterprises. It also develops and manages the Guangzhou Science City and several other industrial zones.

Annexes:

Annex 1 : Brief on the Outline of the Plan for the Reform and Development of the Pearl River delta (2008-2020)

Annex 2 : Map of the Pearl River Delta Region

Annex 3 : Map of the Guangzhou Development District

Annex 1

Brief on the Outline of the Plan for the Reform and Development of the Pearl River Delta (2008-2020)

The Outline of the Plan for the Reform and Development of the Pearl River Delta (2008-2020), unveiled by the Chinese Government in January 2009, covers the nine cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Jiangmen, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Huizhou, and Zhaoqing, and extends to the Pan-Pearl River Delta (PRD) Region. The Outline seeks to encourage the PRD to accelerate its reform and development and speed up its economic and social development in order to transform its economic development model to meet China’s economic growth.

The PRD region would be positioned as an experimental ground for scientific development, a pilot region for further reforms, an important international gateway, integration and common development with Hong Kong and Macau, a world-class base for advanced manufacturing and modern service industries, and an important national economic centre by attaining stronger ability to influence and lead the surrounding areas and forge a multi-level cooperation among cities, enterprises and governments.

By 2020, the PRD region will have realised modernization ahead of other regions, formed an industrial structure featuring modern service and advanced manufacturing industries, cultivated globally advanced capabilities of scientific innovation, fostered a scenario in which all people live in peace and harmony, and brought forth one of the world’s mega metropolitan areas with the most abundant core competitive strengths through labour division, cooperation and mutual complementation among Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. By 2020, the per capita GDP of the region will have reached RMB135,000, with the service industries accounting for 60%. The income levels for the urban and rural residents will have doubled compared with those of 2012. The energy consumption per capita GDP and environmental quality will have reached or approached the level of developed nations.

The PRD region will increase its support to the industrialization of high technologies and focus on speeding up the construction of hi-tech parks including the Guangzhou Science City (North) as well as develop the national-level hi-tech industrial parks including those in Guangzhou into national leaders.

In addition, under the framework agreement on China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, the PRD region will support the cooperation with advanced ASEAN countries like Singapore in the fields of economy, technology, industrial park management, and talent training.

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