Introduction to Jimei New Town

In February 2010, the stone-laying ceremony of Jimei New Town, the northwestern gateway to Xiamen, was successfully held and Jimei New Town became the "pioneer" for the cross-island development of Xiamen. According to the development requirement of “high starting point, high standard, high level and high grade”, Jimei New Town has, gone through fire and water, become a town with “integration of industrial and living infrastructures” for commercial operation, information service, cultural creation, educational, scientific research, transportation hub, ecological tourism and residential purposes in the past nine years, thus achieving the goal of "full launch in one year, initial scale development in three years and basic completion in five years" and becoming a model for the cross-island development of Xiamen.

Jimei New Town is developing towards the goal of "becoming a city in ten years". It is promoting the deep integration of industrial, living, schooling, and cultural infrastructures with an aim to become a regional innovation center suitable for living and working purposes and a New Town for cross-island development of Xiamen.

 I. Basic Conditions

Jimei New Town is the first new beautiful town for the cross-island development of Xiamen. Located at the geometric center of Xiamen, it is the transportation gateway to Xiamen Island. At the foot of Tianma Mountain and along Xinglin Bay, it comprises "one center, two areas and two parks and zones ("one center" refers to the 30.92 sqkm Xiting Central Zone; "two areas" refer to the 8.45 sqkm Xiamenbei Railway Station Area and the 21.1 sqkm Xinglin Old Industrial Urban Area; "two parks and zones" refer to the 8.13 sqkm Phase III project of the Software Park and the 9.1 sqkm Machinery Industrial Concentration Zone). Its permanent population has increased from less than 100,000 to 300,000+.

As of 2018, Jimei New Town completed a total investment of 157.4 billion Yuan cumulatively, with an annual mean investment of 19.675 billion Yuan. It made a financial investment of about 30 billion Yuan which promoted a social investment of about 127.4 billion Yuan. A new urban area of 30 sqkm was completed. It also reserved land in an area of 22.15 sqkm, delivered land in an area of 16.33 sqkm and transferred land in an area of about 487.68 hectares, including residential plots of about 66.19 hectares, the plots for commercial and service purposes of about 416.01 hectares and industrial and other plots of 5.48 hectares. The urban population has increased from less than 100,000 to 300,000+ with continuous urban sprawl.

As the pioneer in the cross-island development of Xiamen, Jimei New Town has witnessed the continuous and rapid construction of various industrial and living public infrastructures since the launch of the construction of its core zone in 2010.

 (I) Convenient Transportation

Jimei New Town is an emerging town that is closest to Xiamen Island and most convenient for access to Xiamen Island. It has a dense transportation network that provides “access to every corner within 15 minutes”. Through subway, BRT and car, it is only 20 minutes away from Gaoqi International Airport and Xiangyu Bonded Zone, 30 minutes away from Xiamen Administrative Service Center and the Port of Xiamen, 40 minutes away from Xiamen Railway Station and 50 minutes away from Xiang'an new airport. Therefore, it enjoys highly significant geographic advantages and transportation convenience. 

At the end of 2017, Metro Line #1 was formally launched into operation and Jimei New Town was the first off-island group to benefit from it. The Metro line has a total length of 30.3 km and links Xiamenbei Railway Station, Phase III project of Software Park and other areas and Xiamen Island together. Half of the stations along the Metro line are located within Jimei New Town, thus further highlighting the geographic advantages of Jimei New Town. Moreover, the Metro Line #4 and 6 under construction will also cross Jimei New Town. Metro Line #4 is a round-bay fast passage off Xiamen Island and will be launched into trial operation at the end of 2020. Metro Line #6 will be launched into trial operation in 2022.

 (II) Full-equipped Facilities

With the continuous progress of the "cross-island development" strategy, the construction and development of Jimei New Town are going on at a faster pace. Based on the deep integration of "industrial, living, schooling and cultural infrastructures", Jimei New Town plans its educational, medical, commercial, leisure and entertainment infrastructures at a high starting point to continuously satisfy people's ever-increasing pursuit of a beautiful life.

1. Education: Jimei New Town has established a complete educational system covering from kindergarten to college. It claims ownership of the Jimei Campus of Xiamen Foreign Language School and other model schools of basic education. It is also close to Jimei Middle School and other famous schools. Therefore, it enjoys rich educational resources.

2. Medical: Plan medical facilities include Jimei New Town Hospital, a Class A comprehensive tertiary hospital, and also Jimei New Town Specialty Hospital which will become the main medical facilities of the region. Meanwhile, some existing medical facilities are also available, including Xiamen Branch, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University and Xiamen Hongai Hospital.

3. Commercial: Relying on IOI MALL, Shimao Cuican Tiancheng, Vanke Cloud City, Shengguoyuan Complex, Park Outlets and other large-scale shopping malls, three emerging business circles have appeared in Jimei New Town, i.e. Xinglin Bay business circle, Cultural and Educational Zone business circle and Xiamenbei Railway Station business circle. With the launch of the commercial facilities of Phase III of the Software Park, a software park business circle will come into being.

4. Leisure and entertainment: The four major public cultural facilities, i.e. Horticulture Expo Garden, Citizens' Park, Jiageng Art Center (including Poly Theater and Huayi Brothers Film Center) and Chengyi Scientific and Technological Exploration Center, are distributed in Jimei New Town for the leisure and entertainment of citizens.

5. Residential: A living space with harmonious coexistence of human beings and nature and urban “green lung” will be created through the protection of Xinglin Bay Water Area and the construction of the Horticulture Expo Garden (a Class 4A scenic zone), a national urban wetland park and the round-bay greenway and slow-walking system, etc.

 II. Preferred Industries

An industrial system of the New Town is currently taking shape and developing robustly, including software information service industry, commercial and trading industry, cultural and entertainment media industry and machinery and equipment manufacturing industry. As of the end of 2018, nearly 2,000 enterprises settled down in the area, with an annual output of nearly 60 billion Yuan and more than 90,000 employees.

1. Software and information service industry: As the core carrier of the software and information industry of Jimei New Town, the Phase III project of the Software Park has a total planned coverage area of 8.13 sqkm and a total construction area of 8,600,000 sqm. As of the end of 2018, the eastern section of the Park had a completed area of 1,600,000 sqm. Today, it is aggressively developing five major industries, i.e. 5G, artificial intelligence, big data, IoT and intelligent hardware. The industrial structures are expected to basically take shape in 2021 and the new pillar and source of growth of Xiamen's software industry will appear then.

Representative projects: Unisound, Wangsu, Migu Animation, Huiyihuiying, BEZ, etc.

2. Commercial and trading industry: The commercial and office carriers, as represented by Xinglin Bay Business Operations Center and Xiamenbei Railway Station Business Operation Center, have attracted regional headquarters of groups and large-size state-owned enterprises, including IOI, APTECH, Home King. Three major commercial concentration zones have basically come into existence in Jimei New Town, i.e. Xinglin Bay business circle, Xiamenbei Railway Station business circle and Cultural and Educational Zone business circle.

Representative projects: Red Star Macalline, Park Outlets, Home King, etc.

3. Cultural, performance and media industry: Xiamen was chosen as the host city of China Golden Rooster Awards in 2019. Jimei New Town will capitalize on this opportunity to aggressively develop its cultural, performance and media industry. Other than the Horticulture Expo Garden (a Class 4A scenic zone), the successive completion and launch of Jimei Tower, Lingling International Circus, Old Courtyard and other urban performance and cultural facilities have turned Jimei New Town into a key place for the development of Xiamen's cultural, tourism and performance and media industries.

Representative projects: Horticulture Expo Garden, Jimei Tower, Lingling International Circus, Old Courtyard, etc.

4. Machinery and equipment manufacturing: The Machinery Industrial Concentration Zone is an important part of the "integration of industrial and living infrastructures" of Jimei New Town. Two major industrial clusters, i.e. auto manufacturing and engineering machinery, and such advantageous industries as power T&D equipment have come into being here. It is expected to become an important national export base of engineering machinery, auto and auto part, the largest manufacturing base of heavy and medium-duty buses in China and even the world and the most important manufacturing base of engineering machineries and autos across the Taiwan Strait. 200+ enterprises have settled down at the Machinery Industrial Concentration Zone.

Representative projects: King Long, XGMA, Automobile Characteristic Town, etc.

III. Space Resources for Investment Promotion

(I) Plots for Investment

Jimei New Town can provide 39 plots in a coverage area of 1,737,000 sqm and a construction area of 1,861,000 sqm for investment. See the following table for details:

(II) Spaces for Investment Completed, under Construction and Pending Construction

Jimei New Town has land for investment in a total area of 6,046,400 sqm and remaining land for investment in an area of 2,728,670 sqm, including commercial plots for investment in an area of 1,105,870 sqm and office plots for investment in an area of 1,622,800 sqm. These plots are primarily distributed in Xiting Core Zone, Xiamenbei Railway Station Area and Software Park Zone. The details are as follows:

IV. Relevant Supportive Policies

(I) Industrial Policies

1. Interim Measures of the People's Government of Jimei District and the Administrative Committee of Xiamen Torch Development Zone for High Technology Industries on Reward for Encouraging Development of Software and Information Service Industry (Revised) (Ji Fu (2018) No. 106)

2. Opinions of Xiamen Municipal People's Government on Promoting Development of Software and Information Technology Service Industry (Xia Fu (2018) No. 374)

3. Notice of the People's Government of Jimei District on Supportive and Rewarding Measures to Further Promote Development of Tourism Industry (Ji Fu (2016) No. 136)

4. Measures of Jimei District on Supporting and Promoting Development of Commercial and Trading Industry (Ji Fu (2018) No. 192)

5. Notice of Xiamen Municipal People's Government on Printing and Distributing Implementing Details on Promoting Development of IC Industry (Xia Fu Ban (2018) No. 58).

6. Measures of Jimei District on Supporting and Encouraging Development of Logistics Industry (Ji Fu (2017) No. 91)

 (II) Talent Policies

1. Notice on Printing and Distributing Interim Measures of Xiamen on Software and Information Service Talents (Xia Jing Xin Ruan Jian (2017) No. 33)

2. Outline of 2013-2020 Action Plan of Xiamen to Implement "Rivers into Ocean" Talent Program and Develop "Talent SEZ" (Outline of Talent SEZ Action Plan)

3. Notice on Printing and Distributing Implementing Measures of Xiamen on Providing Living Allowance for Newly-introduced Talents (Xia Ren She (2017) No. 278)

4. Notice on Printing and Distributing Opinions on Deepening Reform of Talent Development Mechanism and Facilitating Talent-driven City Development Strategy (Xia Wei Fa (2017) No. 16)

5. Notice on Printing and Distributing Implementing Opinions of Xiamen on Providing Housing Allowance for Introduced High-level Talents (Xia Wei Fa (2016) No. 5)

6. Interim Measures of Jimei District on Supporting Talents of Key Industries and Enterprises (Ji Fu Ban (2018) No. 17).

7. Measures of Jimei District on Rental Allowance to Enterprise Talents (Ji Fu Ban (2017) No. 2)

 (III) Comprehensive Policies

1. Several Measures to Further Stimulate Talent Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Xia Wei Fa (2016) No. 4)

2. Several Measures to Further Deepen Xiamen-Taiwan Economic, Social and Cultural Exchange and Cooperation (60 new Taiwan-oriented policies of Xiamen)

3. Several Measures of Xiamen to Promote Growth of Foreign Investment (Xia Fu (2018) No. 111)

4. Notice of the People's Government of Jimei on Printing and Distributing Measures of Jimei District to Reward Standardization and Brand Development Strategy (Ji Fu (2018) No. 46)

5. Notice of the People's Government of Jimei District on Printing and Distributing Implementing Measures on Promoting Enterprise Listing (Ji Fu (2018) No. 114)

6. Notice of the People's Government of Jimei District on Printing and Distributing Measures to Reward Industrial Restructuring and Upgrading of Jimei District (Ji Fu (2017) No. 121)