Dongguan Waterfront Functional Area, a provincial key development platform, is located in the northwest of Dongguan where the north trunk stream and the south tributary of Dongjiang River flow through. It consists of the towns of Machong, Zhongtang, Wangniudun, Hongmei, and Daojiao, covering about 270 km2, or 10.8% of the city’s total area. In 2022, this area had a GDP of 80.9 billion yuan and some 690,000 permanent residents. It is positioned as a demonstration zone for high-quality integrated development, with the goal of becoming a new growth pole for addressing unbalanced and inadequate development.
The Waterfront Functional Area is endowed with superior location and transportation advantages. Situated at the heart of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and the Pearl River Delta’s one-hour living circle, it is home to the Dongguan West Railway Station - a rail transit junction in South China and the transfer hub for the Foshan-Dongguan-Huizhou Intercity Railway, Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen Intercity Railway, and Dongguan Rail Transit Line 1. From Dongguan, all the major PRD cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, and Huizhou are accessible in half an hour. Strategic passages such as the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway, Guangshen Yanjiang Expressway, and Lianhuashan Cross-River Pathway, transverse the region to create favorable traffic conditions and hence, broad prospects for development.
The Waterfront Functional Area has prominent institutional and system advantages. As the pilot for reforming Dongguan’s system of towns directly under the municipal government, this area has been granted approval authority for more than 170 items, and is fully authorized to make overall plans in terms of development planning, regional development, industrial development, major project construction, and improvement of government service efficiency. It is fully implementing the “one-stop network-based” government reform to provide efficient and people-friendly government services.
The Waterfront Functional Area boasts good ecological and cultural advantages, and is rich in both water ecological resources and Lingnan cultural legacy. The strong pollution control and ecological remediation measures adopted in recent years have helped restore its idyllic scenery as a Lingnan waterfront town. It now houses the Huayang Lake National Wetland Park, Caibai Wetland Park and other parks, providing an ideal destination for people to get close to nature and enjoy life. At the same time, as the land of inheritance for Lingnan history and culture, the Waterfront Functional Area features a unique cultural landscape and simple folk customs. Among them are the Cantonese opera, festive lanterns and dragon boats, which give full expression to the charm of its traditional culture.
The Waterfront Functional Area will thoroughly implement the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress and accelerate its high-quality development by ensuring “one focus”, “three integrations” and “six improvements”. Specifically, the “one focus” shall be on “sci-tech innovation+advanced manufacturing”. Through measures like urban renewal, land reorganization, and transfer of old factory buildings, vigorous efforts will be made to expand industry development spaces, build platforms to pool innovation factors, and introduce leading enterprises as well as specialized and sophisticated enterprises that produce new and unique products. By empowering high-quality growth with science and technology, and driving the shift towards advanced manufacturing, it aims to build a major engine powering Dongguan’s high-quality development. The “three integrations” which shall be guided by the “one focus”, refer to the integration of the five towns for creating a robust development pattern, integration of Dongguan and Huizhou for channeling innovation resources and industry factors and ensuring their matching in these waterfront towns, and city-industry integration for building a high-quality waterfront town and a group of community-based industry parks suitable for both business and living. Serving this “one focus”, the “six improvements” are improving the carrying capacity through spatial reconstruction, improving industry quality and efficiency through transformation and upgrading, improving urban functions through quickened infrastructure construction, improving environmental quality through comprehensive treatment, improving service efficiency through optimized business climate, and improving development vitality through key reforms.
Contact Information
Administrative Committee of Dongguan Waterfront Characteristic Economic Development Zone
Tel: 86-769-88089053
