Yangmingtan Bridge across the Songhua River provides access to nearby industrial parks that are home to a growing number of investment projects. [Photos Provided To China Daily]

The highway overpass above Xuanhua Road was put into use last year.

Residents check information on new low-cost apartments.

The authorities in Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, have continued to restructure the economy, a move that has attracted investment from a growing number of world-class business giants.

New leadership in the city has made economic restructuring a task of central importance for a better and faster economic development, government officials said.

"The city government plans to advance cloud computing, enhance e-business and cultural innovation, conduct research on development of various types of economic zones and industrial parks, integrate resources and improve infrastructures and services," said Lin Duo, Party chief of Harbin.

Eleven of the world's top 500 companies, including leading US agricultural machinery manufacturer John Deere, real estate developer ProLogis and online sales giant Amazon Group, have set up branches in a new industrial town in Harbin.

Fifty-seven of 117 key investment projects in the city have been put into operation.

A 2.06-billion-yuan ($330 million) project for airplane composite materials jointly invested by Hafei and Airbus, is the first composite material project for large passenger planes in China.

More than 170 research and industrial projects from countries including Israel, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine have found home at the innovation town. Construction of an international agriculture expo center, the main site of the World Agri Expo with an investment more than 8 billion yuan, has begun.

Nine financial institutions, including JPMorgan and Bank of East Asia, have also established a presence in Harbin.

Housing projects

In addition to economic growth, the government plans to invest more to renovate shantytowns and improve public services such as housing and heat supplies in the next five years.

Part of a complex development blueprint set out by the city government during a recent meeting, the measures aim to achieve rapid development in the city, local officials said.

Shantytown renovation within the city's fourth ring will result in 120,000 new low-income housing units, 77,000 in the central urban area, in the next five years, according to the plan.

Some 39,000 units will be completed by the end of this year, with 26,000 in the city's central area and 13,000 in nearby counties. Construction will start before the end of October, officials said.

To date, 11.9 percent of this year's goal has been achieved in the first quarter, "a good beginning, given the freezing winter climate that is unsuitable for construction in Harbin", they added.

Of the units designed for the most vulnerable, 28,000 will be rebuilt for residents living in shantytowns and 5,000 will be rented to low-income families after completion this year.

wangxiaodong@chinadaily.com.cn