The Taizhou Construction Industry Development Conference is held in Taizhou on Feb 14. [Photo/taizhou.com.cn]

Taizhou will ramp up efforts in seeking further growth in the construction industry, a local senior official said recently.

The city plans to accelerate the pace of reform, optimize its business climate and push forward the construction sector to shift to a high-quality growth model from the previous quantitative one, noted Mayor Zhang Xiaoqiang at a meeting on Feb 14.

Official data show that the output of the construction industry in the city reached 267.5 billion yuan($39.6 billion) in 2018, the fifth highest in Zhejiang province.

The city's target for 2019 ranges from 280 billion to 285 billion yuan, according to the Taizhou bureau of housing and urban-rural development.

To achieve the goal, the local authorities will strengthen support for businesses trying to increase competitiveness partly by guiding them to ramp up investment in research and innovation.

The local enterprises will also be encouraged to expand their presence in overseas markets by riding the wave of opportunity brought by the Belt and Road Initiative.

Meanwhile, Taizhou aims to foster a batch of construction companies with wider recognition and speed up a green tech innovation system, which will mean less resource consumption and pollution.

The Wenling Medical Center undertaken by Taizhou-headquartered Fangyuan Group won the 2018 Luban Award, China's prestigious prize for design and construction.

Since 1989, the biennial Luban Award acknowledges architecture and engineering firms that produce high-quality work and maintain strong quality control and project management.