The Nantong Economic & Technological Development Zone commenced construction of 42 projects on March 19. The projects have total investments of 18.6 billion yuan ($2.99 billion) and cover areas such as industry, services, people's livelihood and infrastructure.

This year marks the development zone's "year of project construction". The projects are large and high–tech, with a strong ability to promote industries. They cover industries including machinery, health and medicine, electronic information, new energy, new material, food processing, and modern textile.

The Siluka precision machinery project, with the highest individual investment of 1.26 billion yuan, is financed by Misumi Corporation, Japan's largest supplier of mould standard parts. It will become the leading enterprise in the precision machinery industrial park of the development zone after construction.

The China Industrial Expo City project, with a total investment of 1.6 billion yuan and an area of 150,000 square meters, will become the biggest international exhibition and trade center for hardware and electrical industrial products in Nantong, Jiangsu province.

The development zone also launched 10 projects related to people's livelihood, raising 4.42 billion yuan in investment. The fitness center, budgeted at 110 million yuan, will become a good place for the public to exercise.

Edited by Zhao Qian and Michael Thai