Hangzhou has best investment environment in China: World Bank
12/11/2006 11:04
The World Bank says China's eastern city of Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang
Province, has the best investment environment in the country.
Five other
eastern cities of Qingdao, Shaoxing, Suzhou, Xiamen and Yantai ranked from
second to sixth, said a World Bank report released on Saturday at the Fourth
China Investment Environment Forum in Hangzhou.
The report was jointly
prepared by the World Bank and China's State Information Center after surveying
12,400 companies in 120 Chinese cities. The companies were asked to rate the
investment environment, government efficiency and achievements in building a
harmonious society.
Eight percent of the companies are purely state-owned, 28
percent are owned by the state but with foreign investment, and the other 64
percent are non-state firms, the report said.
Apart from the six "gold medal
cities", 13 others including Beijing, Dalian, Guangzhou and Shanghai were judged
"silver medal cities," said David Dollar, World Bank's Country Director for
China and Mongolia.
Calculating all the indices of the cities, the World Bank
pointed out in its report that east China's Jiangsu Province is the most
desirable place for investors in China. It was followed by Shanghai, Zhejiang,
Fujian and Guangdong, all of which are on the country's southeast coast.
The
official said the World Bank's evaluation indices included a city's balance of
macro economic management and political stability, consistent tax policies,
foreign trade and investment levels, government administrative efficiency,
quality of infrastructure and financial services, environmental protection and
the city's efforts in building a harmonious and well-off society.
Although
less well-known than the metropolises, the six "gold medal cities" enjoyed high
ranks in all the indices, said Dollar.
For instance, companies in Shanghai
will spend 60 days a year, on the average, to deal with the relations with the
government, but it will only take eight days in Hangzhou, the official
said.
The evaluation results just show that a less developed city could have
better investment environment than Beijing or Shanghai, if the local government
is willing to enhance their administrative efficiency, bring more transparency
to their work and facilitate the investors, Dollar said.
According to the
World Bank's research, foreign-funded companies' investment-return rate in China
is 22 percent and that of the domestic private companies is 19
percent.
Dollar said the overseas investors tend to prefer the cities with
prosperous market and convenient sea transportation.
As a result, the per
capita foreign investment in China's eastern and southern provinces reached
US$128 in 2004, 1.3 times than northeast, 7 times than the central area and 25
times than the western provinces and autonomous regions.
The World Bank
published a similar report three years ago and Hangzhou also topped the list.
Xinhua News
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