Ninety percent of enterprises above designated size in Guangdong resume production

By He Linping, People’s Daily

China’s Guangdong province, with a population of 110 million, is a major “battlefield” in China’s resumption of work amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

As of Feb. 26, over 48,500 enterprises above designated size, or 90 percent of the total in the province resumed production, and machines in 102 major manufacturers cranked up again.

To support the resumption of work in the province, authorities rolled out 20 concrete measures to stabilize employment and relieve enterprises’ burdens as early as Feb. 6. District governments and departments of the province also released and implemented policies to reduce taxes and rent. These practical measures have lent a powerful hand for the province to set their enterprises rolling again.

Guangdong made a quick response after the initial progress of epidemic control has been achieved and the general situation gradually stabilized. The in-advance deployment has earned the province a favorable start in the safe resumption of work.

On Feb. 8, one day prior to the earliest date of work resumption, the province made a thorough plan of epidemic prevention and control for those returning for work from across the country after the Chinese New Year holiday. About half a month later, it urged full efforts to promote work resumption and reduce the impact from the epidemic to the lowest. As a result, the emergency response measures of the province have been cut from level I to level II on Feb. 24.

A nonwoven fabric manufacturer in central Guangdong’s Foshan recently sent a thank-you letter to a working group with the city’s natural resource bureau.

The manufacturing company planned to resume work after the Chinese New Year holiday, but it did not restart its machines due to its weak ability to make liability scheme and emergency plan amid the epidemic.

Learning the difficulties of the company, the working group immediately contacted the Party committees of Longjiang township and Wanggang village, where the enterprise locates. Together, they helped the enterprise work on its plan of production resumption and established a liability scheme and an emergency plan for it. Thanks to these efforts, the company restarted production three days later.

At present, workshops at thousands of factories in Huangjiang township, Dongguan, an industrial city of Guangdong, are busy operating their production lines.

On the first day of production resumption, thousands of employees of the precision parts manufacturer Lingyi iTech (Guangdong) Company in Huangjiang returned to their posts, working alongside the roaring machines. Every one of them was wearing a blue mask, and had to have their temperature checked before entering the plant. Besides, all incoming vehicles were infected.

On Feb. 17, the power supply bureau of Huizhou’s Zhongkai High-tech Zone had a power examination for lithium battery producer Huizhou EVE Energy. As enterprises in the city gradually resumed work, the electricity consumption went high. By enhancing the maintenance of the power grid, the bureau was ensuring the optimal operation of all electric equipment of the enterprises.

The epidemic is posing challenges for workers outside the province to return to work, too as there is a relatively high risk of cross infection on the journey back. Therefore, the Guangdong Provincial Transportation Group on Feb. 17 dispatched 2 coaches to Ningdu, east China’s Jiangxi province over 600 kilometers away to pick 47 employees for the Guangdong Shengkai Musical Instrument Co., Ltd. in Zhaoqing. The employees arrived in Zhaoqing the next evening, and returned to the staff quarter after registration and temperature checks. The company extended its thanks to the transportation group, saying it was very important for the resumption of work.

A worker is cutting metal wearing a mask at a workshop of an ironware plant in Heshan, a county-level city of Jiangmen in the southern part of Guangdong province, Feb. 13. Photo by Huang Jimin, People’s Daily