On March 8th, during the 63rd executive meeting of the 16th Guangzhou municipal government, the "Guangzhou Northern Growth Pole (including Guangzhou Airport Economic Zone) Industrial Development Plan (2023-2035)" was deliberated and approved. ThePlanaimsto iterate the upgrade of the Northern Growth Pole from a "traffic hub" to an "economic hub" and further to an "open hub," aiding Guangzhou's maritime growth and aviation strength.

In terms of development goals, thePlanproposes phased targets for 2030 and 2035. By 2030, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport strives to achieve 10-minute air-rail passenger intermodal transport, 30-minute direct access to the central urban area of Guangzhou, Foshan, Qingyuan, and Zhaoqing, and one-hour coverage of the Greater Bay Area's rail transit. The radiation capacity of the Northern Growth Pole will cover the central-southern and southwestern regions, and the capacity of the international aviation open hub will be significantly improved.

By 2035, the passenger throughput of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport is expected to reach 140 million and the cargo and mail throughput is expected to reach 5 million tons. The passenger traffic of both Guangzhou North Railway Station and Guangzhou Baiyun Railway Stationareexpected to exceed 40 million, while the container throughput of Guangzhou International Port is expected to reach 13.8 million tons. A comprehensive modern air-rail hub industrial system will be formed, establishing an industrial cluster depending on the aviation industry with a scale of over 300 billion yuan. The Northern Growth Pole's GDP share in the city's total is expected to increase to about 20%.

In terms of spatial layout, the Northern Growth Pole takes "Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport - Guangzhou North Railway Station - Guangzhou International Port" as the fulcrum, leveraging the synergistic benefits of the air-rail hubs, and strives to build an air-rail fusion economic demonstration zone. This fulcrum is expected to become the core engine driving the rapid development of the Northern Growth Pole. Meanwhile, the coordinated development of industries in the east and west will be promoted to consolidate the growth of the real economy for the rapid development of the Northern Growth Pole.

ThePlanpoints out that, with the Northern Growth Pole as the core, efforts will be made to establish the east-west Guangzhou-Foshan-Zhaoqing advantageous industry linkage development axis and the north-south Guangzhou-Qingyuan-Shaoguan industry transfer and collaborative development axis, which will drive the rapid development of the northern part of Guangdong Province. When the two development axes enjoy the spillover benefits of the central urban areas,theycan strengthen the supply chain cooperation with the Guangzhou Knowledge City, Eastern Center (the area connecting Guangzhou Huangpu and Zengcheng), and Nansha New District, promote the construction of the Pilot Free Trade Zone and Linkage Development Zone, and improve the development level of the industrial open platform.

Takingtheairport as the leader, the railway port as the feature, the seaport (including river port) as the extension, and the digital port as the link, the Northern Growth Pole will be built into a comprehensive service information platform integrating the four ports. It can promote the construction of key transportation and logistics hubs, and build an open, interconnected, efficient, green, and intelligent "four-port" interconnected development pattern.