Workers are busy assembling products in Ningbo Hidrotek Company. [Photo by Tang Yan]
 

　　By Dong Na

　　As Spring Festival came to a conclusion, businesses, research institutes, and government entities across Ningbo are resuming work, eager to usher in a new year of successes and achievements.

　　Extra Hours in Factories and Construction Sites

　　January 28 was the seventh day of the first month of the lunar calendar and the first day of work after the Chinese New Year holiday for many Ningbo businesses. Machinery roared on factory floors, while workers went about their tasks energetically on construction sites.

　　At 9:00 a.m., at the construction site of a new recreational and nursing center in Fenghua, workers were busy laying pipelines, surrounded by work vehicles. During the Spring Festival holiday, more than 500 workers chose to remain at the site instead of returning home.

　　In the first three days of the Spring Festival holiday, there were at least 200 at the site during working hours. On the fourth day, all of the remaining workers had returned. Currently, more than half of the building's first section has been finished. The entire project is expected to conclude in April this year.

　　At Ningbo Xintai Machinery, workers on the assembly line processed auto exterior trims. They put in 12 hours of overtime each day during Spring Festival to make sure the company's orders could be fulfilled on time.

　　At Ningbo Jingda, three engineers closely monitored the operation of a giant piece of machinery. This is Jingda's new product: a high-precision, high-speed stamping press, which will soon be shipped to China's largest auto parts manufacturer for new energy vehicles. In the past three years, the annual output value of Jingda has increased by more than 20%.

　　Agricultural Endeavors

　　Before the holiday season ended, several of Ningbo's agricultural companies and research bodies were already moving ahead with this year's work.

　　In the facility of an aquaculture company in Ninghai, technicians adjusted the temperature of the green crab larvae incubator. The company mainly breeds white shrimp, green crab, and shellfish. Last year, its output exceeded 30 million yuan. The team's mission is to deliver the best larvae to farmers.

　　In a vegetable cooperative in Yuyao, workers harvested broccoli. In the new year, the cooperative plans to adopt new varieties and growing technologies to upgrade their production.

　　In Hainan Province, researchers from the Ningbo Academy of Agricultural Sciences worked busily in the fields, observing the seedlings, watering and fertilizing the crop, and hauling agricultural supplies.

　　The Academy's cultivation bases are in Hainan's Lingshui county. Taking advantage of Hainan's warm weather, the researchers can shorten new varieties' maturation time by more than half. However, this technique also doubles the team's workload. The researchers did not return to Ningbo until a couple of days before Spring Festival, and had to rush back to the base before the holiday was over.

　　At present, the Academy has two test bases in Lingshui, covering 17 hectares and conducting selective breeding for new varieties of rice, watermelon, pumpkin and other crops that would be suitable for industrial-scale farming. Their work for this year is expected to end in May.

　　In 2023, Ningbo has plans for a seed bank, seed industry innovation park and modern seed production base. The city's ambition is to become a hub of seed cultivation innovation and advanced agricultural technology.

　　Efficient Government Services for the Public

　　On the first office day of the Year of the Rabbit, government agencies across the city shifted gears promptly from holiday mode to work mode, efficiently providing services to enterprises and citizens.

　　On the morning of the 28th, members of the Xiepu Town Government in Zhenhai arrived at Ningbo Zhengyuan Copper Alloy to discuss with the general manager details of setting up a new materials research institute.

　　In early January, the town government set up a task force to coordinate the establishment of the research institute and to help the company navigate administrative procedures.

　　Thanks to the dedication of the task force, the applications for the institute's founding are progressing smoothly. The institute's official inauguration date is scheduled for the first quarter of this year; work will begin in the second quarter.

　　Meanwhile, in the Municipal Government Service Center, neatly-dressed government workers staffing over a hundred windows prepared to handle citizens' paperwork.

　　At the public security windows, many people were submitting passport and travel document applications, which were patiently processed by the staff. "I am an out-of-towner. Today is my first time coming to the Center to apply for a passport. At the entrance, there were staff handing out roses to everyone who came in, which was very pleasant. The service attitude here is so good," said Mr. Cai, a citizen.

　　This year, the Municipal Government Service Center will continue to improve its service model with practices such as keeping certain windows open during lunch hours, providing the public with more high-quality and efficient government services.