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Liu Minxia
mllmx@msn.com
EXACTLY four years after it was created as a test bed for financial reforms and Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation, Qianhai staged a promotion for itself across the border in a bid to increase its appeal to Hong Kong firms.
Led by city leaders including Xiao Zhijia, deputy director of Shenzhen Financial Office, the team elaborated to an audience of around 100, mainly from Hong Kong financial institutions, on what Qianhai can offer to Hong Kong firms setting up a presence in their special economic zone.
Those benefits include tax incentives and other preferential policies, and Qianhai firms will benefit from the stock connect program between the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong stock exchange, which is in the making, Xiao told reporters yesterday.
The Hong Kong stock exchange has completed its tests for the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect earlier Sunday, giving Qianhai’s rival, Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ), an edge. Qianhai won the Central Government’s support in 2010 as a pilot zone for developing the modern service industry through cooperation with Hong Kong and its adjacency to Hong Kong is considered one of the few advantages it enjoys over the Shanghai FTZ. Its appeal to Hong Kong companies, however, has not been significant to date.
The zone failed to attract much Hong Kong investment in its previous land auctions, but aims to sell one-third of its salable land this year — or up to 15 lots totaling 2.6 million square meters — to Hong Kong companies.
Qianhai leaders also plan to build 4,717 apartments and rent them at below-market prices to Hong Kong firms and professionals who relocate there. They hope to attract 100,000 Hong Kong permanent residents to work in the zone and 10,000 Hong Kong companies to register there by 2020.
Hong Kong companies set up 350 firms in Qianhai in the first seven months of the year, compared with 11,645 firms with combined registered capital of 639 billion yuan (US$104 billion) having been registered in Qianhai as of Aug. 11.
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