Foreign investment is a barometer of a region’s economic vitality, business environment and opening up. In the first two months this year, Haiyan utilized over $US 168 million in actual foreign investment, ranking first in Jiaxing. Investment in Haiyan means investment in the future. Why does Haiyan stand out as a favored destination for foreign capital?

During a recent visit to Management Committee of Economic Development Zone of Haiyan (Xitangqiao Sub-district), the reporter witnessed an efficient coordination meeting on a $US-500-million foreign-funded project. Located in this development zone, the project will establish two automated production lines: one for 200,000 TEU hybrid containers annually, and the other for 30,000 refrigerated containers. The attendees addressed challenges head-on and finalized solutions within 15 minutes.

“Whenever complex issues arise, we immediately convene to discuss and address them on the spot,” said Jiang Wei, deputy director of the Committee. Such solution-oriented meetings, often shorter than 15 minutes, are common. Following the meeting, Jiang Wei promptly initiated implementation procedures.

Thanks to this efficient implementation mechanism, the project now is progressing steadily and is scheduled to commence construction in the first half of 2025. “On completion, it will become the largest single-factory container manufacturing base of the world,” stated Jiang confidently. With an estimated annual output value of six billion yuan, the project will inject robust momentum into local high-quality economic development.

As local core hub for high-quality industrial development, Economic Development Zone of Haiyan contributes nearly half of the county’s industrial output. Its performance in foreign capital attraction is particularly outstanding: The county aims to attract $US 320 million in actual foreign investment utilization in 2025, but this zone alone targets $US 176 million, over 55% of the total of the county.

In January this year, Landi Chemical (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd. broke ground on its project (Phase I) with a production capacity of 600 tons of special new materials a year (Full capacities amount to 1,200 tons a year) and a registered capital of $US 30 million. Upon operation, it will supply global-leading technologies and products to chemical enterprises; its products are safe, reliable, cost-effective and advanced in technology, and it is projected to generate 200-million-yuan of sales revenue a year.

The investor of this project is a Singapore-headquartered specialty chemical and technology investment group, with controlling stakes in multiple companies and branches in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Qingdao, and Xi’an. In 2023, this group achieved a sales revenue of 1.6 billion yuan.

At the construction site, the reporter found Zhou Jiayuan, assistant general manager of Landi, was closely reviewing project progress. According to her, the project’s foundation work is nearly complete, scheduled to be fully finished and accepted in March 2026, and is put into operation by June 2026.

“Earlier operation means earlier market capture,” said she. She desired for its earlier operation with full confidence, “The Development Zone has given us meticulous support in terms of policy guidance, procedure processing and relevant coordination, which helps us focus our attention on the advancement of the project, and eliminate our concerns.”

When discussing Haiyan’s value for the future growth of the company, she enthusiastically praised, “We require industrial gases like nitrogen for production, for instance. The government proactively held meetings between gas suppliers and demand sides of the chemical park, and funded pipeline corridors to transport raw materials between enterprises, slashing logistics costs and ensuring stable material supplies.”

More importantly, how does Haiyan transform “the strong capability in foreign capital attraction into ‘investor stickiness’ and ‘enterprises’ better development’ to achieve local economic and industrial upgrading?

Initially, multiple other regions extended “olive branches” to Landi when it chose cooperation partners. After thorough evaluation, the company decisively chose Haiyan.

An executive of the Group explained, “We believe our investment in Haiyan means that in a better future. New Materials and Chemical Industry Park of Economic Development Zone of Haiyan boasts excellent infrastructure for its development in the early development stage. As the first production base of the Group, we hope to leverage the perfect industrial chain of the Park and abundant talent and sci-tech resources, and establish deep roots here. We plan to establish an R&D center here to launch new products from Haiyan into global markets.”

As Denmark’s largest industrial group, Danfoss Group has also favored and invested in Haiyan for many years. In April 2024, Danfoss broke ground on its largest industrial park - its second industrial park in China in Haiyan, marking its ninth investment in Haiyan in 19 years.

As a major provincial-level project of Zhejiang, every step of Danfoss’s second industrial park draws significant attention. Each step is a race against time like signing, groundbreaking and construction. With a total floor area of 270,000 square meters, this project has set high requirements for construction technology and management. Yet, it just took one year to put the project into operation in March 2024 from the groundbreaking, setting a remarkable benchmark known as “Haiyan Speed”.

An aerial view reveals the striking scale of this second industrial park. As a key project under Zhejiang’s initiative “1,000 Projects and One Trillion-yuan Investment Per Year”, the first phase of the project spans 14.4 hectares with a total investment of 2.7 billion yuan. Upon completion, it will be the largest industrial park constructed in one go in the history Danfoss Group, and Haiyan will become one of the Group’s largest global production hubs.

The rapid and orderly progress of such a large project owes much to local full-cycle services. From the very beginning, Wanghai, where the project settles, pioneered innovative approaches to optimize business environment, implemented a “weekly reporting system” and regularly organized meetings on advancing the project for construction teams to meticulously track construction progress and issue effective measures to ensure the completion as scheduled.