This is the golden period of water conservancy construction in Guangxi during the dry season. The construction site of the Pinglu Canal Youth Hub Lock on the outskirts of Qinzhou is full of tower cranes and roaring concrete mixers.
In December 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized during an inspection in Guangxi: “We must jointly build a new land-sea corridor in the west, implement a number of major transportation infrastructure projects, and build the Pinglu Canal with high standards and high quality. Build an international gateway port in the Beibu Gulf, improve river-rail-sea intermodal transport capabilities and automated water transport Ping."
The Pinglu Canal, which will officially start construction in August 2022, will open up the second channel of the Pearl River-Xijiang River into the sea. 5,000-ton river-sea direct ships can directly connect to my country's coast from the Xijiang inland port. The port and major ports in Southeast Asia better connect the domestic and international markets. Up to now, a total investment of 44.54 billion yuan has been completed in the Pinglu Canal, accounting for 61.2% of the project budget. Earthwork excavation and concrete pouring of the main body of the ship lock have all been completed beyond schedule.
“The peak period of large-scale excavation and construction of Pinglu Canal has passed, and the metal components and equipment of the three major hubs including Qingnian Hub, Madao Hub and Qishi Hub have fully entered the production and manufacturing stage.” Pinglu Canal Group Co., Ltd. Wang Jieyun, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Company, said, “In order to better utilize the Pinglu Canal as a new land-sea connection in the west, In order to achieve the comprehensive effect of the backbone project, we have begun to plan the management and operation, industrial layout, functional supporting and other issues after the main body of the canal is completed by the end of 2026."
We will focus on building the Pinglu Canal with high standards and high quality. , Guangxi’s role as an important hub and gateway of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor has become increasingly prominent. From January to October this year, a total of 420,000 TEU containers were shipped by sea-rail intermodal trains at Guangxi Beibu Gulf Port, a year-on-year increase of 7.7%; the total import and export trade of provinces along the channel through Guangxi ports reached 548.943 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.32%.
The level of infrastructure interconnection is accelerating, and the logistics scale of the New Land-Sea Corridor in Western Guangxi continues to grow rapidly. At present, the construction of the Huangtong to Baise railway is accelerating, the Guiyang to Nanning high-speed railway, and the Fangchenggang to Dongxing railway have been completed and opened to traffic. The reconstruction and expansion project of Nanning Airport, T3 terminal area and supporting facilities projects are accelerated. Nanning has been approved to establish an international communications business entrance and exit bureau. The construction of "land, sea, air and digital" interconnection pattern is accelerating. From January to October this year, the import and export freight volume of Guangxi ports was 170 million tons; the number of entry and exit transportation vehicles (frames, trains, ships) was 1.27 million, a year-on-year increase of 45.7%; the number of entry-exit personnel was 11.566 million, a year-on-year increase of 85.2%.
The business environment continues to be optimized, and the industrial agglomeration effect of the Western Land-Sea Corridor is accelerating. Guangxi continues to promote the integrated construction and operation of Beibu Gulf port-sea-rail intermodal transportation, and the overall operating efficiency has increased by about 20%. The China-Vietnam border smart port is accelerating. After the project is completed, goods can achieve 24-hour uninterrupted, unmanned and intelligent customs clearance. Goods from Nanning to Hanoi, Vietnam, will arrive within 24 hours, and goods to the four provinces on the northern border of Vietnam will arrive within 12 hours. The construction of various types of parks has been accelerated, and the construction of cross-regional and cross-border industrial and supply chains has been accelerated.
"To implement the important deployment requirements of the fourth "Belt and Road" construction work symposium, we will continue to promote "hard connectivity" of infrastructure, "soft connectivity" of rules and standards, and Build a country together People's "hearts are connected", vigorously improve the logistics scale and operation quality and efficiency of the Western Land-Sea Corridor, accelerate the integrated development of the corridor and industry, and build Guangxi into a convenient place for domestic and international dual-circulation market operations that connects the world and connects the world." Liu Ning, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Zhuang Autonomous Region, said.
