Shenzhen And Hambantota
By S. Sivathasan -December 6, 2013 |
S.Sivathasan
The caption may invoke the prejudice of comparing the incomparable. It will certainly look a study in contrasts. Yet there is many a point of comparison. Shenzhen has already created history with late entry in three important areas, as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), in urban development and in maritime transport. This transformation was achieved in 33 years with incredible changes to be seen in the next few years. The reality and the principal contrast is that Sri Lankans are not Chinese.
The year 2050 is a convenient point of time to frame targets, since global magnitudes on a variety of parameters stand already estimated. They encompass population, urbanization, energy, food availability, GDP, FDI, shipping and the like. Hambantota therefore has an astronomical time span of 37 years, to draw up worthwhile, implementable plans reaching up to 2050. From the limited information available in the public domain, it appears that a comprehensive development of the port area is in sure and competent hands, though the sequence of some segments seems misplaced as the country would affirm.
Shenzhen
Shenzhen was a fishing village till 1980 in which year China’s first SEZ was established there. It was then home to a population of 333,000 people. It has grown since, 4 times in the first 10 years and 21 times in 20 years till year 2000. A further fifty percent in the following decade took the population to 10.35 million by 2010. The city core has a population of 3.5 million, with a density of 13,000 per sq. mile. In speed of growth the city has been among the fastest in the world.
What brought this about? Firstly, the disposition of the leadership. It meant business. It had a vision by the country and the constancy to stand by it. When Deng was asked by Mao what he was doing during the time he was eclipsed, he replied “I was preparing”. It certainly would have included living by the cardinal instruction of Liu Shao Chi’s self-abnegation in his “How to be a Good Communist”. After he unselfed his self, there was no thought of myth building, familial succession or place in history. Today Deng is revered in China and respected by the world.
With thrust from FDI, manufacturing came first with service industries to follow. City development with office space and magnificent housing provided for an explosive demographic change. Together with a modern city supported by full infrastructure, Shenzhen held an investment of $ 30 billion by 2010.
In Shenzhen 11 years after the SEZ was established and subsequent to the sea port being developed, following a felt need the Airport was opened in October, 1991. At Hambantota, the SEZ is yet to take shape but 3 years after the sea port was opened, the International Airport too was opened. Shenzhen Stadium accommodates 33,000. The Hambantota International Cricket Stadium accommodates 35,000. The former was opened after 13 years of exponential development. The latter, ahead of the SEZ and the port. Is the precedence well thought out?
