Thriving Kunming

Kunming, the city of everlasting spring and capital of Yunnan in the south-western part of mainland China, is warming up to becoming an important destination of South and Southeast Asia.
Sprawled over a swathe of green hills, adorned with necklaces of snow-white clouds, Kunming is adored as a city of everlasting spring for its breath-taking scenic beauty round the year.
Though it was left out of the seismic development drive that was seen in Shanghai, Shenzen and Guangzhou during the last decade, in recent
times Kunming and other parts of the Yunnan province have received special attention from Chinese leaders, who are eager to transform this once-overlooked province into a gateway to South and Southeast Asia.
Development work is being carried out as part of China’s policy to revive the old Silk Route. To implement the policy, a project, the One Road One Belt Initiative (OROBI), has been undertaken. For the last couple of years, OROBI has emerged as the nucleus of China’s 'going global' strategy.
Last year, Chinese president Xi Jinping announced the USD 40 billion 'Silk Road Fund’ to jump-start the 'belt and road' projects.
Some of the mega projects which have been initiated to connect Kunming to the other south and south-east Asian cities are: a high speed rail, a mega container terminal, a huge expressway, and development of land ports.
According to Chinese leaders, Kunming possesses unique geographical advantages. “In the course of revamping the province into a pivot of China’s process of opening up to South and Southeast Asia, Yunnan will attach great importance to building a regional economic centre, breaking the bottleneck of infrastructures, developing an open economy, reinforcing construction of public service platforms, and deepening relationships and practical cooperation,” said standing member of the Yunnan Provincial Committee and head of the publicity department of the CPC, Zhao Jin.
The authorities are also concentrating on building five infrastructure networks, namely: a road network, an airline network, an energy security network, a water network and the internet, by expediting construction of a comprehensive transportation system, energy pipeline network, logistics channel, and telecommunication facilities to link South and Southeast Asia, southwest China and the hinterland in eastern and central China, building interconnectivity hubs, creating a regional electric power exchange hub, and building a telecommunications hub.
Kunming has a new state-of-the-art world-class airport. From a flight, one can actually see the huge volume of infrastructure work being carried out on the fringes of the city.
Kunming already has the third-largest exhibition and convention centre in the country, built with an investment of RMB 37 billion.
 Some key projects undertaken under the OROBI initiative are:
High-Speed Rail Station
Located at the foot of Longtan Mountain, in Chenggong New District of Kunming City and 3km away from the newly built municipal administrative centre, Kunming South Station is an important station of Yunnan Railway. The RMB 3.2 billion project is expected to be completed in June 2016.
“Kunming South Station is not only a massive railway station, but also the largest high-speed rail station under construction in Southwest China. When construction is complete, the station will dispatch high-speed trains and trans-provincial long-distance passenger trains, and the estimated annual throughput capacity in the short term is 31.2

million people and 46.93 in the long run,” a project official told this correspondent.
The daily throughput is 1,28,000 people. During rush hour, the passenger flow may reach up to 3,00,000 people, which will be six times the current capacity of the station in use now.
The railway station has three ground floors and one underground floor. On the departure floor is the passenger outbound area and the transfer area between railway and urban transportation. Hence, outbound passengers can easily transfer to other modes of public transportation, like buses, subways and tourism buses. The platform floor is where passengers get on and off the trains. It has 30 arrival-departure tracks and 30 platforms. The station buildings on the side are in the east and west.
The Kunming South Station is a combination of modern technology and local culture. Its façade resembles a peacock spreading its tail. It also has features of ASEAN countries, and symbolises harmonious ethnic groups and extensive international cooperation and exchange.
 Railway Container Centre
Kunming Railway Container Centre is a modern railway terminal yard built and run by China Railway Joint International Container Co., Ltd. (CRJIC), with a total investment of RMB 340 million. Construction work kicked off in July 2004 and ended on November 4, 2006, when it became officially open

for business. This station is one of 18 nationwide railway container centre stations of CRJIC.
The station is located in the Nanjing-Kunming railway hub and within the logistics park of Chenggong New District, Kunming City.  Kunming Centre Station is the most complete and smoothly functioning station among railway container freight facilities in Yunnan Province. The container shipping volume is 6,50,000 TEU, while arrival volume is 7,30,000 TEU, transfer volume is 2,20,000 TEU, and total freight volume is 1.6 million TEU.
 International Flower Auction Trading Centre
The Kunming International Flower Auction Trading Centre Co., Ltd. (KIFA) is run by Yunnan Jin Yuan Flower Industry Co., Ltd., Yunnan Province Flower Investment Management Co., Ltd., Kunming Industry Development Investment Co., LTD., and Cheng-gong District State-Owned Assets Operation and Investment Company.
KIFA integrates auction trading, flower standard promotion, introduction of new varieties, and information services. After over 10 years of efforts, KIFA has become the largest flower auction market in China. Its auction trading volume is second only to Japan Tokyo Ohtaku Auction Market. It is also the fourth largest flower auctionmarket in the world.

The company owns nine electronic trading clocks and 900 trading seats. It has both online and offline trading systems. At present, the company has over 25,000 growers (suppliers), and over 3,100 buyers across the country. The flower trading product clusters mainly include roses, African daisies, baby’s breath and carnations. A hundred additional varieties are formed. The daily trading volume is 2 to 3 million branches, and the trading volume during peak days is over 5 million branches. The company completed auction trading of 750 million branches of freshly cut flowers from January to December 2014, and the total yearly trading volume was RMB 550 million.
KIFA has built a complete quality control system, standardised market trading rules, and a product supply chain. The flower growers’ cooperative is the basic supply unit. This system is also based on the ‘Yunnan Flower’ brand promotion and trading service systems.
 Hangzhou–Ruili Expressway
The Hangzhou–Ruili Expressway, commonly referred to as the Hangrui Expressway, connects Ruili, a border town in Yunnan, with Hangzhou.
The 2,935 km long expressway is almost complete. It serves as a key transport artery in Western Yunnan and a gateway to Southeast Asia. By lowering transport costs and improving the frequency and level of transport services, the project is anticipated to spur economic activity and help reduce poverty in the area.

Thriving Kunming

Kunming, the city of everlasting spring and capital of Yunnan in the south-western part of mainland China, is warming up to becoming an important destination of South and Southeast Asia. Sprawled over a swathe of green hills, adorned with necklaces of snow-white clouds, Kunming is adored as a city of everlasting spring for its breath-taking scenic beauty round the year. Though it was left out of the seismic development drive that was seen in Shanghai, Shenzen and Guangzhou during the last decade, in recent times Kunming and other parts of the Yunnan province have received special attention from Chinese leaders, who are eager to transform this once-overlooked province into a gateway to South and Southeast Asia. Development work is being carried out as part of Chinas policy to revive the old Silk Route. To implement the policy, a project, the One Road One Belt Initiative (OROBI), has been undertaken. For the last couple of years, OROBI has emerged as the nucleus of Chinas going global strategy. Last year, Chinese president Xi Jinping announced the USD 40 billion Silk Road Fund to jump-start the belt and road projects. Some of the mega projects which have been initiated to connect Kunming to the other south and south-east Asian cities are: a high speed rail, a mega container terminal, a huge expressway, and development of land ports. According to Chinese leaders, Kunming possesses unique geographical advantages. In the course of revamping the province into a pivot of Chinas process of opening up to South and Southeast Asia, Yunnan will attach great importance to building a regional economic centre, breaking the bottleneck of infrastructures, developing an open economy, reinforcing construction of public service platforms, and deepening relationships and practical cooperation, said standing member of the Yunnan Provincial Committee and head of the publicity department of the CPC, Zhao Jin. The authorities are also concentrating on building five infrastructure networks, namely: a road network, an airline network, an energy security network, a water network and the internet, by expediting construction of a comprehensive transportation system, energy pipeline network, logistics channel, and telecommunication facilities to link South and Southeast Asia, southwest China and the hinterland in eastern and central China, building interconnectivity hubs, creating a regional electric power exchange hub, and building a telecommunications hub. Kunming has a new state-of-the-art world-class airport. From a flight, one can actually see the huge volume of infrastructure work being carried out on the fringes of the city. Kunming already has the third-largest exhibition and convention centre in the country, built with an investment of RMB 37 billion. Some key projects undertaken under the OROBI initiative are: High-Speed Rail Station Located at the foot of Longtan Mountain, in Chenggong New District of Kunming City and 3km away from the newly built municipal administrative centre, Kunming South Station is an important station of Yunnan Railway. The RMB 3.2 billion project is expected to be completed in June 2016. Kunming South Station is not only a massive railway station, but also the largest high-speed rail station under construction in Southwest China. When construction is complete, the station will dispatch high-speed trains and trans-provincial long-distance passenger trains, and the estimated annual throughput capacity in the short term is 31.2 million people and 46.93 in the long run, a project official told this correspondent. The daily throughput is 1,28,000 people. During rush hour, the passenger flow may reach up to 3,00,000 people, which will be six times the current capacity of the station in use now. The railway station has three ground floors and one underground floor. On the departure floor is the passenger outbound area and the transfer area between railway and urban transportation. Hence, outbound passengers can easily transfer to other modes of public transportation, like buses, subways and tourism buses. The platform floor is where passengers get on and off the trains. It has 30 arrival-departure tracks and 30 platforms. The station buildings on the side are in the east and west. The Kunming South Station is a combination of modern technology and local culture. Its faade resembles a peacock spreading its tail. It also has features of ASEAN countries, and symbolises harmonious ethnic groups and extensive international cooperation and exchange. Railway Container Centre Kunming Railway Container Centre is a modern railway terminal yard built and run by China Railway Joint International Container Co., Ltd. (CRJIC), with a total investment of RMB 340 million. Construction work kicked off in July 2004 and ended on November 4, 2006, when it became officially open for business. This station is one of 18 nationwide railway container centre stations of CRJIC. The station is located in the Nanjing-Kunming railway hub and within the logistics park of Chenggong New District, Kunming City. Kunming Centre Station is the most complete and smoothly functioning station among railway container freight facilities in Yunnan Province. The container shipping volume is 6,50,000 TEU, while arrival volume is 7,30,000 TEU, transfer volume is 2,20,000 TEU, and total freight volume is 1.6 million TEU. International Flower Auction Trading Centre The Kunming International Flower Auction Trading Centre Co., Ltd. (KIFA) is run by Yunnan Jin Yuan Flower Industry Co., Ltd., Yunnan Province Flower Investment Management Co., Ltd., Kunming Industry Development Investment Co., LTD., and Cheng-gong District State-Owned Assets Operation and Investment Company. KIFA integrates auction trading, flower standard promotion, introduction of new varieties, and information services. After over 10 years of efforts, KIFA has become the largest flower auction market in China. Its auction trading volume is second only to Japan Tokyo Ohtaku Auction Market. It is also the fourth largest flower auctionmarket in the world. The company owns nine electronic trading clocks and 900 trading seats. It has both online and offline trading systems. At present, the company has over 25,000 growers (suppliers), and over 3,100 buyers across the country. The flower trading product clusters mainly include roses, African daisies, babys breath and carnations. A hundred additional varieties are formed. The daily trading volume is 2 to 3 million branches, and the trading volume during peak days is over 5 million branches. The company completed auction trading of 750 million branches of freshly cut flowers from January to December 2014, and the total yearly trading volume was RMB 550 million. KIFA has built a complete quality control system, standardised market trading rules, and a product supply chain. The flower growers cooperative is the basic supply unit. This system is also based on the Yunnan Flower brand promotion and trading service systems. HangzhouRuili Expressway The HangzhouRuili Expressway, commonly referred to as the Hangrui Expressway, connects Ruili, a border town in Yunnan, with Hangzhou. The 2,935 km long expressway is almost complete. It serves as a key transport artery in Western Yunnan and a gateway to Southeast Asia. By lowering transport costs and improving the frequency and level of transport services, the project is anticipated to spur economic activity and help reduce poverty in the area.