Last year Shandong became only the second province to achieve a GDP of more than 3 trillion yuan. With a growth of some 12.1 percent - particularly impressive against the backdrop of financial uncertainty that bedeviled many of the world`s economies - the eastern coastal province posted a 2008 GDP of 3.11 trillion yuan, an achievement previously only matched by Guangdong, traditionally China`s most prosperous province.

A more in-depth analysis of the figures show that its per capita GDP also passed the 30,000-yuan mark for the first time. It was also the 17th consecutive year that the province had posted double-digit growth.

The provincial government, however, is not taking the impressive figures as a mandate for relaxing their drive for economic expansion. Instead it has announced ambitious plans to bolster development throughout the province, with a particular emphasis on boosting the less economically successful areas around the south of the province and the Yellow River Delta.

At present, the province`s major cities - including Jinan, Qingdao, Yantai and Weihai - contribute some 72 percent of Shandong`s GDP. Under the local government`s new strategy, growth in the provinces` 10 major cities will continue to be nurtured, although additional resources will be diverted into supporting the under-performing zones.

Despite their comparatively low levels of current contribution to the province`s overall GDP, the local government has identified huge potential for future development among the natural resources and fine ecological balance in both the Yellow River Delta area and southern Shandong.

Rich coal reserves have already been identified in the south of the province, whilst plans are already in place to develop the Yellow River Delta as the site of the nation`s second largest oilfield and home of one of the country`s most expansive wetland areas.

Jiang Daming, governor of Shandong, said the new development strategy will focus on integrating the major cities surrounding Jinan, the provincial capital, into one closely-linked city group, as well as developing a high-end manufacturing industrial zone in the eastern areas. It also includes plans to build an ecologically friendly economic zone in the Yellow River Delta area and to accelerate the development of the iron and steel industry in Rizhao, a port city in southern Shandong.

Jiang said a budget of 1.6 trillion yuan had already been earmarked to initiate the scheme with the bulk of it being allocated to a program of infrastructure construction. The investment is part of a wider initiative by the provincial government and is aimed at ensuring the province maintains an annual GDP growth of at least 10 per cent, despite ongoing uncertainties in the global financial markets.

As part of the initiative, the program of urban facility construction will be accelerated in the two central cities of Jinan and Qingdao. A total of 335 key construction projects are scheduled to begin in Qingdao alone this year, representing a combined investment of 337.4 billion yuan. Another 204 projects are planned for Jinan, involving a total investment of around 166.1 billion yuan. In addition, some 53 billion yuan will be invested in improving port facilities in Qingdao, Yantai, Rizhao, Weihai and Jining.

Away from the cities, 167.3 billion yuan will be used to improve road and rail transportation facilities, with the total length of railways in Shandong expected to reach 5,500 km by 2015,

The proposed development of the Yellow River Delta ecological-friendly economic zone, part of the national development plan, will also receive about 100 billion yuan of investment this year.