Recently, Yunnan Province issued the "Several Opinions on Supporting Qujing City in Building Yunnan's Sub-center City" (hereinafter referred to as "Opinions"), proposing that by 2025, Yunnan's sub-center city will be basically completed, and the total economic volume will account for more than 15% of the province's total. .
The province's advanced manufacturing center has been basically completed, a network-based infrastructure system has been basically formed, the city's comprehensive carrying capacity and service functions have been greatly improved, and the radiating influence and driving force have been significantly enhanced.
This is another city that has been identified as a provincial sub-center city.
In recent years, more and more provinces, while implementing the strategy of "strengthening provincial capitals", have laid out the construction of provincial sub-central cities to drive coordinated regional development.
According to Yicai, more than 20 cities across the country have been identified as provincial sub-center cities.
More than 10 provincial construction sub-centers
In 2021, Qujing's GDP will be 339.39 billion yuan, making it the second largest city and second largest economy in Yunnan Province.
In the first half of this year, Qujing’s GDP increased by 7.7%, which was 5.2 percentage points higher than that of the country and 4.2 percentage points of Yunnan Province. The GDP accounted for 12.3% of Yunnan Province, an increase of 0.5 percentage points over the same period of the previous year, which contributed to the economic growth of Yunnan Province. The rate was 26.3%.
Qujing's own economic basic conditions and the current good growth situation make it stand out from the competition and have high expectations.
The "Opinions" propose that by 2025, the total economic volume of the province will account for more than 15% of the province's total; by 2035, a higher-level sub-center city in Yunnan will be built, with a regional GDP exceeding 1.2 trillion yuan and a national prefecture-level city. Top 50.
In fact, before Qujing was designated as a sub-center city, Yunnan was mobilizing the whole province to implement the "Strengthening the Provincial Capital" action.
The two strategies of strengthening the provincial capital and the sub-center city at the same time have become a common practice in all provinces.
The Hunan Provincial Government Work Report in 2022 not only proposed to implement the strategy of strengthening the provincial capital, but also proposed to support the construction of Yueyang and Hengyang provincial sub-center cities.
The work report of the Gansu Provincial Government in 2022 also proposed to implement the action of strengthening the provincial capital, and proposed to support Tianshui to build a provincial sub-central city.
In May of this year, the report of the 12th Party Congress of Sichuan Province clearly stated for the first time that Mianyang should be supported to give full play to the advantages of a science and technology city, and accelerate the construction of the sub-center of the provincial economy in northern Sichuan. Cultivate the provincial economic sub-center in Northeast Sichuan.
In recent years, more than 10 provinces across the country have proposed the construction of sub-center cities, and the number of cities listed as sub-centers has exceeded 20.
In 2019, Henan issued the "Implementation Plan for Establishing a New Mechanism for More Effective Regional Coordinated Development" to support the construction of Luoyang's sub-center city and plan and build the Luoyang metropolitan area.
In 2021, the report of the 11th Party Congress of Henan Province also proposed to support Nanyang in building a sub-center city, cooperate and interact with Xinyang and Zhumadian, and build a high-efficiency ecological economy demonstration area in southern Henan.
In 2020, Shanxi proposed the spatial layout of "one main, three sub-six city centers", that is, to vigorously build the core engine of Taiyuan metropolitan area; to speed up the construction of three provincial sub-center cities of Datong, Changzhi and Linfen; to speed up Yuncheng, Jincheng, Yangquan, Shuo The construction of six urban central cities in Zhou, Xinzhou and Luliang.
In 2021, the report of the 11th Party Congress of Anhui Province proposed to support Wuhu in building a provincial sub-center city.
In the "Anhui Province Land and Space Planning (2021-2035) (public consultation version)", Wuhu was also clarified as a national industrial innovation center and the positioning of a modern big city with important influence in the Yangtze River Delta.
The "Guangxi New Urbanization Plan (2021-2035)" proposes to "make full use of the location, industry, transportation, cultural tourism and other advantages of Liuzhou and Guilin, promote industrial agglomeration, factor agglomeration, and population agglomeration, improve urban quality, and accelerate the construction of Guangxi Sub-center city, enhance the regional radiation and driving ability.”
While implementing the strategy of strengthening the provincial capital, Jiangxi has built a total of 4 central cities, creating one main and one auxiliary and 2 regional central cities, thus forming a new regional development pattern of "one main, one auxiliary and two auxiliary".
One is to make Nanchang, a provincial central city bigger and stronger, and the other is to build Ganzhou, a provincial sub-central city.
Even the developed coastal provinces have proposed the construction of sub-center cities.
For example, Guangdong proposed to build 2 main central cities and 3 sub-central cities.
The two main centers are Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and the three sub-center cities are Zhuhai, Shantou and Zhanjiang.
Jiangsu regards Xuzhou in northern Jiangsu as a sub-center city to develop.
Not only that, in the national plan, the positioning of the sub-centers of some cities has also been clarified.
In 2021, the "14th Five-Year Plan" approved by the State Council for the revitalization and development of special types of regions proposed to support Xuzhou, Luoyang, Xiangyang, Changzhi and other cities in building provincial sub-central cities.
The 14th Five-Year Plan for Supporting the High-quality Development of Demonstration Zones for Industrial Transformation and Upgrading in Old Industrial Cities and Resource-Based Cities also proposes to support Xuzhou, Luoyang, Xiangyang and other cities to consolidate the manufacturing foundation, and accelerate the construction of provincial sub-center cities and national It will become a comprehensive transportation hub, and enhance the ability to radiate and drive the development of surrounding areas.
The "14th Five-Year Plan" to support the old revolutionary base areas to consolidate and expand the achievements of poverty alleviation and promote rural revitalization implementation plan proposed to support Ganzhou, Yan'an, Zunyi, Changzhi and other cities to build provincial sub-center cities, and enhance the radiation and driving ability.
The construction of sub-center cities in these provinces is almost in sync with the implementation of the strategy of strengthening provincial capitals.
The strategy of strengthening the provincial capital plays a positive role in promoting and driving the agglomeration of factors in the province, but its side effect on the siphon effect of the region is also very obvious.
Especially in the central and western regions, the phenomenon of "one city dominating" the capital city is very obvious.
If we blindly promote the expansion of the provincial capital, it will only exacerbate the imbalance of regional development.
Taking Xi'an, Shaanxi as an example, whether in terms of economic aggregate or population size, Xi'an has accounted for more than 30% of the whole province of Shaanxi.
Some scholars said that the production factors such as human, property, and other production factors in the surrounding areas are being siphoned by Xi'an. Even in Yulin, an emerging growth pole, although the total economic volume has increased, the population and other factor resources are being siphoned.
In contrast, the coastal provinces have basically formed a double leader.
Therefore, cultivating and constructing provincial sub-center cities is of great significance for cultivating emerging growth poles in the province and driving coordinated regional development.
Economic scale and city energy level
These more than 20 sub-center cities are generally the second largest economy in the province after the provincial capital.
There are two main types of industries in these cities. One is based on resource-based industries, such as Changzhi in Shanxi, Qujing in Yunnan, and Zunyi in Guizhou. Coal and other resources support the second largest economic volume; the other is historical productivity. A traditional regional sub-centre is formed in the layout.
The notable feature of the sub-center cities is that they have a certain scale in terms of economic aggregate, but there is a relatively large gap with the provincial capital cities, among which Sichuan, Shaanxi, Hubei and other provinces have the most obvious performance.
The economic volume of these cities is generally between 300 billion and 600 billion yuan. Further increasing the economic scale is the primary goal of these cities, and it is also an important foundation for supporting provincial sub-center cities.
Among these more than 20 cities, Luoyang has long maintained the first position in GDP of non-provincial capital cities in the central and western regions. In 2021, Luoyang will rank 45th in the national city list with a GDP of 544.71 billion yuan; Shaanxi Yulin will follow closely with 543.52 billion yuan. Xiangyang and Yichang in Hubei were 530.94 billion yuan and 502.27 billion yuan respectively, ranking third and fourth among non-provincial capital cities in the central and western regions; in addition, Yueyang in Hunan, Nanyang in Henan, Wuhu in Anhui, Zunyi in Guizhou, and Ganzhou in Jiangxi all exceeded 400 billion yuan, and Liuzhou in Guangxi, Qujing in Yunnan, Mianyang and Yibin in Sichuan all exceed 300 billion yuan.
When the provinces are laying out the construction of sub-center cities one after another, the competition between sub-center cities has gradually become a new hot spot in regional and provincial competition.
Sub-center cities are increasingly becoming new power sources and growth poles of the provincial economy. Therefore, the rapid growth of the economic scale of sub-center cities will increase their contribution to the provincial economy.
The report of the 11th Party Congress of Henan Province pointed out that Luoyang, as the sub-center city of the Central Plains urban agglomeration, should anchor the goal of a trillion-level economic aggregate, adhere to the dual-drive of innovative industries, focus on reform and opening up, and create a pillar of culture, tourism and culture. Coordinate the strong integration of urban and rural areas, optimize the environment and set up a stage, form a new growth pole for high-quality development of the province as soon as possible, develop in coordination with Sanmenxia and Jiyuan, and build a demonstration zone for transformation and innovation in western Henan.
However, although the sub-center cities have a lot of room for growth in their economic aggregates, they also face many problems. On the one hand, the increase in economic aggregates is limited by the industrial structure. These cities often have a high proportion of traditional industries and a single industrial structure, especially resource-based cities. Cities with industries as their pillars face arduous transformation tasks.
On the other hand, the construction of these cities lags behind economic development, and there are many deficiencies in urban functions, which are obviously siphoned by the provincial capital cities.
Some experts said that the cultivation of provincial sub-center cities is more about policy guidance, guiding provincial capital cities to relieve non-core functions and transfer some provincial capital resources.
By attracting external forces through policies, such as strengthening infrastructure construction to form a second transportation hub, and building regional medical centers in the field of public services, these cities are expected to form some special functions.
The "Opinions" proposed that it is necessary to build a high-quality regional functional center in Qujing, and build a provincial education sub-center, a regional medical and health center, a regional cultural and sports center, a regional financial service center, and a regional scientific research and innovation center.
Not only that, the resource advantages possessed by provincial capital cities are incomparable to sub-center cities. Therefore, resources should be tilted towards sub-center cities.
The "Opinions" propose that, in accordance with the principle of being able to release as much as possible and scientifically authorize, Qujing City will be given more provincial-level economic and social management authority in accordance with laws and regulations.
In terms of industrial development, urban-rural integration development, optimization of business environment, ecological civilization construction, and modern governance system, Qujing City is encouraged to take the lead and to give priority to Qujing City as a pilot city for exploration and reform.
The "14th Five-Year Plan for Supporting the High-quality Development of Demonstration Zones for Industrial Transformation and Upgrading in Old Industrial Cities and Resource-Based Cities" also proposes that, under the premise of strictly protecting permanent basic farmland and ecological protection red lines, and saving and intensive land use, support relevant (districts) , city) to appropriately increase land use indicators for provincial sub-central cities, and grant more land management authority.