A group of foreign students from the Emerging Markets Institute of Beijing Normal University visit Chongli, Hebei Province, on November 18, 2019 (LI XIAOYU)

For over four decades China has implemented a wide range of economic reforms and strategies aimed at alleviating poverty and opening up the economy, the results of which are often dubbed an "economic miracle." An important part of this economic growth has recently taken place in Chongli. A district located on the outer edge of Beijing, Chongli, in Zhangjiakou City, is surrounded by mountains and beautiful natural scenery. It is currently experiencing an unprecedented economic and infrastructural transformation.

A success story

Chongli has a population of almost 130,000 and has a big weather factor in its favor. The winter temperature averages -12°C and features thick snow. As a result, Chongli is considered by experts to be an ideal venue for skiing activities, so ideal in fact that it will be the co-hosting venue of the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (Beijing 2022 Games).

In July 2015, China won the bid against its rival Kazakhstan to host the XXIV Olympic Winter Games in February 2022. After winning the bid, with Beijing as the primary venue, Chongli was selected as the second venue co-host.

The Genting Resort Secret Garden in Chongli is one of the supporting private sector projects of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games Bid Committee. The snow park will be used as the venue for the freestyle skiing and snowboard events. This has put Chongli on the map, attracting both domestic and foreign attention.

Between the winter of 2018 and 2019, major snow parks in Chongli received around 1 million visits. The entire district welcomed more than 2.5 million tourists and realized an overall tourism income of over 1.8 billion yuan ($261.34 million). Since then, Chongli has witnessed and continued to experience massive social, infrastructural and economic development.

As part of its IMBA course, the Emerging Markets Institute of Beijing Normal University recently organized a field trip of foreign participants to Chongli to witness the development process of the area and the improved lifestyle of locals.

During the tour, visitors had an opportunity to visit various snow parks and interact with the management and staff of various resorts, government officials and local residents. Within 10 years, Chongli, whose economy used to focus on agriculture, has now been transformed into a tourist attraction. This transformation has been made possible by cooperation between the government and private sector.

Forlong Four Seasons Town in Chongli, Hebei Province (LI XIAOYU)

Local development

But what benefits will accrue to Chongli preparing to co-host the Beijing 2022 Games? And secondly, what steps are in place to ensure that the welfare and livelihoods of its rural residents are not negatively influenced?

Initial observations showed that the government, through a collaborative process, is providing the necessary incentives to create a conducive environment for the private sector investment and to protect the interest of locals. With assistance from the Central Government, local authorities and the private sector are working together in partnership to ensure poverty alleviation, and infrastructural development is among their top priorities. In light of this, the government has allocated over $6.3 billion aimed at

supporting the transformation of Chongli and its environment. Paramount to the development process is the construction of a high-speed rail line and an expressway that link Chongli and Beijing. The high-speed rail line stretches for 174 km and shortens the train travel time between Beijing and Zhangjiakou to less than an hour. Also, the expressway stretching from Chongli to Beijing through the mountains greatly reduces the traveling time between the two places.

Private investment

Further observations show that the private sector is also contributing their share to the development process and helping in the preparations toward the Beijing 2022 Games by investing heavily in Chongli. Forlong Holdings Group, the leading investor in Chongli, began operation in the area in 2008. According to Guo Meihong, the group's vice president, Forlong has invested about $3.7 billion over the past years, building up a complex, which is known as the Forlong Four Seasons Town, with high-rating hotels, commercial buildings and a state of the art ski resort. The group's investment has created employment for over 1,000 locals. As part of their corporate social responsibility, the group has helped build new, modern houses for the residents of the Shangwopu Village, greatly improving their standards of living. Equipped with health facilities, the new village is stylishly built and well managed.

Ghana perspective

The success of Chongli is the result of a healthy relationship between the Central Government, local authorities and private investors. Working together in Public-Private Partnership, the public and private sectors are systematically transforming a less privileged and poverty-stricken district into a global ski town with well-developed tourism sector. This development is a model for many developing countries like Ghana.

Ghana has embarked on several poverty-reduction initiatives, such as "one district one factory," which is currently ongoing. The idea behind this is to bring the private sector and the public sector into partnerships aimed at industrializing the Ghanaian economy.

The Ghanaian Government is also adopting some key policies on agriculture, such as "planting for food and jobs" and "one village one dam," to boost this dominant sector of Ghana to create jobs for the youth and reduce poverty. Ghana is moving in the right direction, however, it is failing to effectively collaborate with the private sector to achieve its policy outcomes. It's about time that policy makers, government officials, citizens and the private sector unite and use China's tremendous success as a model to achieve economic progress.

(The author is assistant research manager at the Ministry for Business Development of Ghana and an MBA student in the Emerging Markets Institute of Beijing Normal University)

(Comments to zanjifang@chinafrica.cn)