茂名市是典型的以石油化工产业为特色的资源型城市,又具有非常优越的区位条件,未来有可能发展成为粤西的区域性中心城市。2013年1月,广东省委书记胡春华在茂名市调研时指出:“粤西发展的一个问题是自身没有大城市,形成不了中心,带动不起来;而离广州珠三角地区又太远了,很难大幅度地享受大城市对其的辐射、拉动;所以,必须把自己的中心城市建设起来。”立足于新型城镇化建设的要求和区域性中心城市的发展目标,茂名市需要 Maoming is a typical resource-based city featuring the petrochemical industry and has very advantageous location conditions. It may develop into a regional central city in western Guangdong in the future. In January 2013, Hu Chunhua, secretary of Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, pointed out in his investigation in Maoming: “One of the problems in the development of western Guangdong is that it has no major cities and can not form a center and does not drive itself. When it is too far away from the Pearl River Delta in Guangzhou, It is very difficult to enjoy the radiation and drive of the big cities to a large extent. Therefore, we must build up our own central cities. ”Based on the requirements of the new urbanization and the development goals of the regional central cities, Maoming needs