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Hunan: a land of 'rice and fish' turns into an industrial hub

SAJJADUR RAHMAN, back from China
WHEN Bangladesh has been starved of foreign direct investment (FDI), Hunan, a central Chinese province, is getting it like anything. Already more than 100 Fortune 500 companies have their operations in the province. Now Asian companies - from South Korea to Japan and Taiwan - are rushing to get the business benefits from Hunan.
Hunan has received nearly $7 billion in FDI during January-September this year, up by 26 percent from the same period a year ago. The province now has more than 2,500 industrial projects -from sophisticated and heavy machinery to electronics, information industry; building materials and food and beverages. Gross domestic product of the province also grew by 10 percent during the period.
The province, which was once known as a land of fish and rice, has now become a hub of industrial and economic activities. The China Daily and Hunan provincial government have recently arranged a trip for major Asian media houses to showcase what the province has done to improve its economy and environment.
"Hunan has developed all the facilities - from policy to infrastructure, skilled professionals and workers - for investors," said Xie Jianhui, director general (commerce department) of Hunan.
Xie said the government and the provincial committee of the Communist Party of China are also helping to establish an open economy, which will ultimately transform the area into an industrial hub.
The organisers arranged field trips to five major cities - Changsha, the capital city of Hunan, Zhuzhou, Xiangtan, Chengde and Yueyang, involving more than a dozen of big and innovative factories.
The factories include Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Development Company located in
Changsha economic zone. The enterprise is engaged in research and development and producing advanced technologies and equipment for
infrastructural construction. Over the two decades since its inception in 1992, Zoom lion has become the fastest growing construction machinery' manufac-
turer with a compound average growth rate of 65 percent.
Zoomlion has established manufacturing bases worldwide, including 13 domestic industrial parks. It has branches and subsidiaries in more than 40 countries. It is the sixth biggest construction machinery' company in the world. It has more than 800 types of products including the world's largest tower crane with a swinging horizontal arm.
Hunan Farsoon High-tech Company is another key industry in Changsha. It was established in 2009 by a Chinese citizen who has years of experience in top technology' companies in the United States. The company makes laser materials for automobile, airplane, defence and war industries.
"We have become China's first high-end Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) equipment maker after experiencing three years of difficult business journey. We are now the third largest SLS equipment manufacturer in the world after 3D Systems in America and EOS in Germany," said Xu Xiaoshu, chief executive of Farsoon.
He also featured on the cover of Forbes in China for its October 2012 issue.
With a strong position in the domestic market, the company now exports to the US and many European countries.
Truking Technology and Broad Homes are two other companies in Changsha that manufacture pharmaceuticals and construction materials respectively. Truking has been set up in an area of 220,000 square metres and exports machinery' to companies in 36 countries, including Square Pharmaceuticals in Bangladesh.
Xianton Electric Manufacturing Group Company, also known as XEMC, was founded in 1936. After decades of development and research, the company has become the backbone enterprise of China's electrical industry'. The company' now produces equipment for wind power generation for different countries.