Baotou, also goes by the name Lucheng city, which roughly translated, means "a city with deer". [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The city of Baotou in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region got top marks in economic and social achievements in 2021, according to a report delivered on Dec 29 by the director of the Baotou Development and Reform Commission.

Economic returns rate in top 100 of country's cities

In the first three quarters, Baotou's five indicators all ranked first in Inner Mongolia. They are the growth rate of regional GDP, the industrial added value above a designated size, total retail sales of consumer goods and the total and growth rate of fixed asset investment.

The report found that Baotou's economic aggregates had risen by 23 places among cities above the prefecture level in the country and had been promoted to 80th overall, making Baotou the fastest-rising city in the country.

Total fixed asset investment, growth rate top Inner Mongolia

Some 243 out of the city's 715 major projects have been completed, reportedly driving the continuous and rapid growth of fixed asset investment. 

From January to November, fixed asset investment for the whole of society increased by 20.8 percent year-on-year, and both the total amount and the growth rate ranked first in Inner Mongolia. 

Construction of the current major projects being built has generated estimated employment of 25,000 people.

Meanwhile, planning and construction of high-speed railways in the city have been accelerated. The Hohhot-Baotou High-speed Railway has passed construction assessment, the construction of the Baotou-Yinchuan High-speed Railway has started, while the Batou-Ordos section of the Baotou-Xi'an High-speed Railway was included in the national railway plan over the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25).

Business promotions achieve top-grade results

Since the start of the year, Baotou has organized commercial matchmaking with 5,581 businesses, with 1,094 contracted projects signed and planned investment coming in worth 1.2 trillion yuan ($180.05 billion).

Of these, 738 projects have started construction, with plans to invest 508.1 billion yuan.

New energy development achieves historic breakthroughs

This year, Baotou approved new energy construction targeting 3.55 million kilowatts, including 1.70 million kW of wind power plants and 1.84 million kW capacity of solar power plants. The total project investment is 33.9 billion yuan, which is projected to drive a total investment of 80 billion yuan in related industries.

When all projects are completed next year, Baotou's new energy installed capacity will reach 11.39 million kW, accounting for 52 percent of the city's total energy capacity.

The newly added power generation will total 10.7 billion kWh, the annual energy consumption will be reduced by 3.21 million metric tons of standard coal and the carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by 8.35 million tons.

Business environment, enterprise services on the rise

Benchmarking against six cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou – Baotou has pre-evaluated its service in 44 municipal departments and units. 

Among them, three indicators – such as business registrations, tax payments and market regulation – have reportedly reached the standards of the benchmark cities.

Transportation network further improves

In 2021, Baotou launched Beijing-Baotou high-speed trains and added 14 new flight destinations. The number of flights departing and arriving in Baotou has increased by 17.5 percent year-on-year, with the passenger throughput increasing by 21.1 percent.