Located 40 km from downtown Dalian, Puwan New Area has 132 kilometers of coastline and rich tourism resources such as hot springs and wetlands. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"Songmudao has become a crucial destination for Dalian's chemical factories to be relocated. We have to drop old chemical industries and upgrade quality and efficiency by forming a closer chain of upstream and downstream productions. Emissions need to be reduced and efficiency improved," he said.

Sanshilipu Industrial Area is a model for new-energy storage equipment manufacturing granted by the National Development and Reform Commission. Dalian Rongke Power Co is one company that is leading this field.

Supported by the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian Rongke Power Co produces vanadium energy storage systems, a breakthrough in energy conservation and crucial for overcoming the difficulties of integrating renewable energy into the national grid.

A logistics base is being constructed with an investment of 2.25 billion yuan. When completed, the base will provide services in cold chain logistics, warehousing, e-commerce, procurement and settlement services.

The Northeast Asia International Food Trading Center, invested in by China Railway Tielong Container Logistics Co, is committed to the international transportation of cold and fresh foods through railway containers.

"We are moving one step after another. We have sketched Puwan with a pencil and filled in the blanks with different colors to make the new area a rising star nationwide," said Jiang.

A lifeline of investments

In recent years, Puwan New Area has made it their "lifeline" to attract business and investments in an effort to upgrade traditional industries. The area also enhanced efforts to introduce new industries to build a strong manufacturing system.

In 2014, Puwan consumed 1.75 billion kilowatt hours of electricity.

"For years, the industrial electric power consumption of Puwan has been among the top players in Liaoning," said Jiang.

Between January and June, contracts were signed to carry out 25 projects in Puwan with a total investment of 8.5 billion yuan. Among the contracts are deals to build factories for China Resources Snow Breweries, China Catalyst Co and Chuanshanjia Material Supply Chain Co.