Kaiyang county sees economic, social development flourish

Going places: An aerial view of Kaiyang county in Guiyang. [Photo/Guizhou Daily]

Despite the downward pressure on the economy and the impact of the novel coronavirus epidemic, Kaiyang county – administered by Guiyang, capital city of Southwest China's Guizhou province – is understood to have made robust progress in its economic and social development.

In recent years, the GDP of Kaiyang has maintained an average annual growth rate of 8.2 percent, while per capita GDP has exceeded 70,000 yuan ($10,500).

Elsewhere, Kaiyang has been selected as one of "China's Top 100 Counties in the West" for four consecutive years and it has won the titles of "China's Green Development Excellent City" and "Guizhou Provincial Safe Construction Demonstration County".

From 2017 onwards, Kaiyang achieved a historic leap with the eradication of absolute poverty and the subsequent move by its people towards prosperity.

All 14 poverty-stricken villages in the jurisdiction of the county were lifted out of poverty, benefiting 9,983 registered people in 2,943 households.

During the same period, Kaiyang also built 2,764 kilometers of rural roads and upgraded and transformed 1,798 rural safe drinking water projects. The per capita annual net income of poverty-alleviation households reached 12,415 yuan, 2.48 times that in 2016.

Meanwhile, 5,023 people from 1,200 households were relocated for poverty alleviation purposes.

The village of Jiangjiazhai, which was chosen as the place for Kaiyang residents to be relocated, was awarded the title of "National Beautiful Relocation and Resettlement Area".

In addition, 118 people and 14 collectives were awarded honors at the municipal, provincial and national levels for their poverty alleviation achievements.

In terms of its ecological civilization construction, the days with air quality rated as "good" or "excellent" in Kaiyang reached 98.9 percent last year, ranking it first in Guiyang city for six consecutive years.

Afforestation areas in Kaiyang reached 94,100 mu, with a forest coverage rate of 59.22 percent.

Additionally, the three major industries in Kaiyang are said to have entered the "fast lane" of high-quality development.

The development of the county's modern chemicals industry has accelerated and the industrial added value above a designated size of the basic phosphorus chemicals industry has increased by an average of 6.3 percent annually in recent years.

Furthermore, the transformation of modern agriculture there has accelerated and the total agricultural output value has consistently remained number one in Guiyang.

Moreover, the transaction volume of selenium-enriched agricultural products in Kaiyang has increased by more than 20 percent annually in recent years and the number of agricultural processing businesses there has reached 323.

To top it off, the modern services industry in Kaiyang has continued to grow, with the total retail sales of social consumer goods having an average annual growth rate of 9 percent and the added value of the tertiary industry growing by 11 percent on average annually in recent years.