In his report to the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress yesterday, Huang Weihong, director of the Guangdong Provincial Development Planning Committee, said the province would try to create more than 630,000 job openings in the coming year to help achieve that goal.

The unemployment rate in Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong and Macao, is expected to reach 3 percent this year.

By the end of September, more than 440,000 people had been laid off across the province, said Huang.

In spite of the difficulties, Huang is optimistic about realizing the 3.5 percent goal.

Next year several large infrastructure projects will begin and existing construction projects will be accelerated, all of which offer a myriad of employment opportunities for local residents.

The new Guangzhou International Airport is expected to go into service in the second half of next year, while the city's Metro Line 2 will also open in the first half of 2003.

Construction of Guangzhou's Metro Line 3 and many other projects, including Huizhou Nanhai Petrochemical Project, expansion of Guangzhou Port, Shenzhen Metro Line and several expressways, are all to be speeded up next year.

The cost of these combined projects runs into billions of US dollars.

Guangdong intends to attract foreign investment to help finance the construction of hospitals, schools, sewage treatment plants and other socially beneficial projects next year, Huang said.

The provincial government will also expand its investment in infrastructure construction in the province's rural areas to further improve the environment and help local residents, particularly farmers, increase their incomes.

Huang's confidence owes much to the good economic performance of Guangdong Province to date.

This rapid economic growth will further spur the development of local privately run companies, foreign-funded firms and joint ventures, all of which will soak up the region's labor force in the coming years.

Huang urged local laid-off workers to take active steps to improve their skills by attending special training courses.

(China Daily December 6, 2002)