Su Yaning, 27, is a boiler installer at the Ningxia Electric Power Construction Group. His connection with the electric power project did not start until 2004 when he was introduced to an electric field in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, not far from his hometown in Gansu Province. He has been working on a thermal power project at the Ningdong Energy and Chemical Industrial Base (Ningdong Base for short) since 2007.

The 3,500-square-km Ningdong Base, known as Ningxia's No.1 Project, began construction in 2003 and is composed of three sub-bases: coal base, thermal power base and coal chemical base. It will become the home of four pillar industries--coal, electric power, coal chemical and new materials--when completed in 2020.

On December 15, 2008, the Ningdong Base began construction of eight massive industrial projects. With a total investment of more than 50 billion yuan ($7.2 billion), it is considered the largest coal-electricity-chemical project in China's energy construction history.

"We will make efforts to build the Ningdong Base as an important national-level base for the coal and chemical industries, for transforming electricity from west to east in the country as well as a trial base for promoting a cyclical economy," said Wang Zhengwei, Governor of Ningxia.

More opportunities

"Ningxia is small in terms of area and GDP revenue," He Guopan, vice head of the Base's office, told Beijing Review.

According to He, Ningxia's GDP was 88.92 billion yuan ($12.8 billion) in 2007, 84.5 times and 13.3 times more than in 1957 and 1978, respectively. But the region still has the nation's third-lowest GDP, higher than only Qinghai and Tibet.

"The economic gap between Ningxia and some provinces in east and south China is huge, despite the fact that our growth rate has been higher than the national average for the past eight years," said He. "That is the main reason behind the Ningdong Base construction."

The eight industrial projects will reach 130 billion yuan ($18.9 billion) in terms of investment and create 45,000 new jobs, He said.

"By 2020, the Base will create 750,000 new jobs and bring 15 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) in local fiscal revenue, which will alleviate poverty in the region and push forward development," said He. "We are confident about that."