Big-name domestic and foreign industrial investors in the petrochemicals, steel and papermaking industries have staked their claims to be part of city's future

The BASF integrated petrochemical production site broke ground in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province on Nov 23, marking a new milestone in the city's industrial development.

Stephan Kothrade, president and chairman of BASF China, said Zhanjiang is a perfect location for BASF to further strengthen its local production in China.

The new Verbund petrochemical production site is BASF's third-largest site globally, following sites in Ludwigshafen, Germany and Antwerp, Belgium. By 2022, the new engineering plastics compounding plant will supply an additional capacity of 60,000 metric tons per year in China, bringing BASF's total capacity of these products in the Asia-Pacific region to 290,000 tons a year.

Zheng Renhao, Party secretary of Zhanjiang, said this $10 billion smart project is the first solely foreign-invested project in the chemicals sector in China, adding that leaders from China and Germany paid close attention to it.

"It's the duty of the Party committee and the government of Zhanjiang to better serve the project and ensure its smooth proceeding," Zheng said.

The city's authorities deem industrial development a crucial way to boost the local economy and a solution to the inadequate growth of the real economy.

For this purpose, the government has mapped out plans to attract bigname industrial investors and support the growth of leading enterprises.