Jiangsu province's recent program to develop its coastal areas, combined with China's Yangtze River Delta strategy, has benefited a number of places, not least of them the city of Nantong.

That city is now on its way to become an international, metropolitan area, and its economic growth has put it among the top coastal Chinese cities.

The local government has reported a GDP of 341.8 billion yuan ($54.2 billion) for 2010, putting it in 26th place among Chinese cities.

Its imports and exports were valued at 132 billion yuan, or 25th in China.

Nantong is also a national model in the areas of culture, sanitary conditions, social security, and tourism, and in 2007, was already one of the nation's top 10 cities in attracting foreign investment.

In recent years, thanks to new transportation facilities, such as the Nantong-Suzhou Bridge across the Yangtze, and Nantong Port, the city has even more advantages for investors and for growth.

It sits at the very heart of the vital Yangtze River Delta economic zone and is a mere 90 kilometers from Shanghai.

Its port on the Yangtze is not only a major regional shipping center with links to other coastal cities and the outside world, but also to 11 inland provinces.

The Nantong-Suzhou Bridge, which opened in 2008, put the city only an hour's drive from Shanghai.

Meanwhile, work on the Shanghai-Nantong railway line is about to begin and the harbors at Yangkou and Lusi harbors - which can berth vessels of 100,000 tons and up - are operational.

In addition, Nantong Airport, which also serves the Shanghai area, provides service to Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and other domestic air routes. An expansion project is underway on the airport. Upon completion, it is expected to serve big airplanes like the Boeing 740.

The city also has 13,200 square kilometers of coastal land, plenty of water and electric power supplies, and abundant human resources.

The city government has said that it is welcoming investors with some attractive policies.

In fact, over the past several years, the Chinese Social Sciences Academy has ranked the city first in public services provided by a local government.

Nantong's competitive industries, which are a priority in investment, include ship building and marine engineering, which rank high nationally.

Nantong's electronic information industry has grown 20 percent annually, and had revenues of 96.7 billion yuan last year.

The new energy sector has also done well, and its wind power puts it among the top coastal cities in China.

Nantong also has four provincial-level demonstration zones for IT services outsourcing and companies such as Ctrip, Baidu, Google, Tencent, and Acxion have operations in Nantong.

The city has said it will continue to provide advanced services to encourage more industries to settle there.

Nantong Bureau of Commerce and Nantong Information Office contributed to the story

(China Daily 10/18/2011 page15)