The result of Hubei Top 100 Small Townships Selection in 2012 released yesterday shows that Yichang and Wuhan ranks first and second respectively for the number of selected small townships. And Luojiaqiao Subdistrict Office of Daye City has been on the top of the list for successive three years.
Yichang Ranks First in Top 100 Small Townships
The top 100 small townships are selected from 1,039 small townships, among which 62 have been on the list for successive three years. The top-100 list includes townships from all cities except for those of Enshi Autonomous Prefecture and Shennongjia Forestry District. Among them, Yichang has 17 , Wuhan 14 and Xiaogan 12 . Compared with the list in 2011, another 14 townships become top-100 ones. Remarkably, 4 more townships of Yichang appears on the top-100 townships list, rendering Yichang the first in Hubei.
Ye Qing, Deputy Director of Hubei Bureau of Statistics, analyzes that less townships of Wuhan are selected because Wuhan attaches more importance to industrial parks and overall development than township economy development, while Yichang consistently stresses the township development.
Reason to the Top 100 Ones:
Better Industrial and Social Undertakings
In 2012, compared with the index of the whole province, the population of top-100 townships takes 15.8 percent and the administrative area takes 7.2 percent, while the general financial revenue takes 56.9 percent, which is 4.1 percent higher than that of 2011; the average financial revenue is 350 million yuan, 5.9 times of that of the whole province. Rural per capita net income is 10,851 yuan in 2012, 1.38 times of that of the whole province.
Data displays that it is industrial parks and industrial enterprises that vigorously boosts the top 100 townships. In 2012, each top-100 township has 1,364.2 enterprises on average, 61.7 more than the previous year and 3.4 times of the average level of the whole province; the tax paid in is 321.795 million yuan, a 42.8 percent increase, 6.2 times of the average level of the whole province. Each one has 477.4 industrial enterprises with 13,400 employers on average, 3.2 times and 8.6 times of that of the whole province respectively.
Thanks to the good economic basis, social undertakings of the selected townships are better than other townships. According to statistics, in those townships, the rate of participation in rural social endowment insurance is 55.9 percent, 5.5 percent higher that the overall average level; each has 2.42 nursing homes on average, 0.82 more than the average. Schools, doctors, teachers, stadiums and libraries of those townships all outnumber the average number of the whole province.
As for urbanization level, the external population takes 11.8 percent of the total population, a 2.7 percent increase, 7 percent higher than the average; the average township area is about 12 km2, 18.03 percent higher than the previous year; the average township population is 40,592, a 13.95 percent increase, 2.72 times and 3.25 times of the average respectively; the accumulation rate of the township\'s population average is 51.53 percent, 12.8 percent point higher than that of the whole province.
Suggestions for Next Step
Coordinating Industrialization and Township Development
To develop township economy, construction of market township should be accelerated on the basis of new rural construction. At present, most townships’ urbanization level is not good enough, driving force from market townships to surrounding areas is not strong, therefore, urban-rural integration should be promoted. In order to promote urbanization, real estate properties should be vitalized and nongovernmental capital should be attracted to invest in townshipship infrastructure construction.
Meanwhile, industrialization and township development should be coordinated by such measures as perfecting the supporting construction of industrial parks, connecting park development and new urbanization construction, including park construction planning into the urban planning and pushing industries to parks and parks to the city, thus integrating industries and the city.
Ye Qing points out, to develop industrialization of townships, the existing enterprises, especially townshipship enterprises, should be further developed. The successful example in our province is Fuwa Industrial Park in Xingou Township of Jianli County, which is typical county industrial economy.
In addition, townships starting business can be developed by attracting successful businessmen back to the township with the low cost of township business.
Discussion: Gap Exists Between Hubei Province and Coastal Areas
Though Daye was among the national top 100 ones in the last year, it just ranked the 97th . When asked whether other counties and townships could be selected as top 100 ones, Ye Qing tells us that Daye, Yidu and Xiantao has greater potential.
He points out that the coastal counties have new opportunities and many enterprises there are applying land and capitals to the emerging industries such as logistics, cultural and service industries. However most counties in Hubei rely on the traditional industries such as food, garment and agriculture industries, which possibly leads to the gap.