China: Key Cigarette Factory to Kick Off Project of Relocation, Transformation

Source from:  TobaccoChina Online 02/20/2012

Changde Cigarette Factory in south central China's Hunan Province - a key Chinese tobacco manufacturer - is to kick off its costly project of relocation and technological transformation in May 2012, which is intended to rank Changde Cigarette Factory among the biggest Chinese tobacco manufacturing enterprises each capable of generating 100 billion yuan (15.87 billion U.S. dollars) in annual sales income. On February 14, Yuan Jianyao, assistant to the governor of Hunan Province, led a delegation to inspect the site of relocation and technological transformation of Changde Cigarette Factory, and also the site of construction of residential buildings for population resettlement as a result of housing demolition for the project of relocation and technological transformation, to check progress in preparation for fulfillment of the project. Accompanying the delegation on the inspection were leading officials with the municipal government of Changde City, including Qing Jianwei, Chen Wenhao, Liu Xiaoming and Xu Chaowen. During the inspection, Yuan Jianyao highly commented on the progress already made in preparation for fulfilling the project, and gave instructions on scheduling and arrangement for preparation for fulfillment of the project in a next period of time, particularly emphasizing that the schedule to start fulfillment of the project in May can never be changed. The project of relocation and technological transformation of Changde Cigarette Factory is the largest priority project of Changde City in the 2011-2015 five-year period. It is also a priority project concerning the economic development of Hunan Province as a whole. The project will involve a total investment of nearly 6 billion yuan (950 million U.S. dollars). When the project of relocation and technological transformation is completed, Changde Cigarette Factory will have been ranked among the biggest Chinese tobacco manufacturers each capable of generating 100 billion yuan (15.87 billion U.S. dollars) in annual sales income, and will have been capable of making greater contribution to the socioeconomic development of Changde City. In 2011, the provincial government of Hunan met twice on scheduling of fulfillment of the project of relocation and technological transformation of Changde Cigarette Factory, deciding that the project be kicked off no later than May 2012. During the inspection, Qing Jianwei, secretary of Changde City Communist Party Committee, said that as the project of relocation and technological transformation of Changde Cigarette Factory is a major event for the whole of Changde City, local government departments at all levels are required to do a good job of preparation for starting fulfillment of the project by May on a full scale, and to do all they can in well fulfilling their assignments of land expropriation, housing demolition and building support facilities, to ensure that the project will be kicked off at the end of April. Under no circumstance can the date of starting fulfillment of the project be postponed, can smooth progress in fulfillment of the project be negatively impacted, and can entry into operation of the new Changde Cigarette Factory after completion of the project be negatively impacted, Qing said. Enditem