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Sichuan raising 60b yuan for reconstruction projects

The Sichuan provincial government has put 100 projects worth 60 billion yuan (HK$68.11 billion) up for grabs in a move to speed up post-earthquake reconstruction.

In a rare provincial-level trade symposium in Hong Kong yesterday, Sichuan vice-governor Huang Xiaoxiang led almost 200 businesspeople and government officials seeking funds for logistics services, trade and commerce and tourism investments.

The projects, largely in the provincial capital of Chengdu and cities of Luzhou, Suining and Yibin, are core to the province's reconstruction efforts due for completion in 2012.

Even though 'we have weathered two crises - the earthquake and the global financial crisis - the province's economy grew at 13.5 per cent in the first three quarters, even faster than the nation's [7.7 per cent],' Huang said. 'But we still need investments to push ahead the reconstruction.'

Since the earthquake wreaked havoc in Wenchuan, a county 80 kilometres northwest of Chengdu, on May 12 last year, the central and provincial governments have raised funds across the country to pay for the rebuilding effort.

To win more foreign capital, Sichuan has offered investors preferential tax rates, loosened capital requirements for setting up companies and increased ways to raise funds.

Federation of Hong Kong Industries deputy chairman Stanley Lau Chin-ho said the projects and investment incentives meant opportunities for growth-challenged Hong Kong entrepreneurs.

'Sichuan is the anchor province in the development of the western regions, and these supporting policies make it attractive from the investment perspective,' Lau said at the symposium. 'The concerted efforts and related policies to rebuild the province give investors confidence.'

Premier Wen Jiabao reiterated two weeks ago the nation's commitment to the post-quake rebuilding, saying: 'The central government's determination to rebuild Sichuan would not falter, its policy would not change and its commitment would not diminish.'

The potential of Chengdu prompted developer Shimao Property Holdings to earmark 10 billion yuan for several residential, retail and commercial projects over the next few years, the group's chairman, Hui Wing-mau, said.

Hui, who declined to reveal the floor area of the projects, said construction could start as soon as early next year and could take five years.

The Chengdu venture is the latest move in Shimao's aggressive push into the mainland's fast-growing cities, such as Wuhan in Hubei and Xiamen in Fujian.

Chengdu was also the first mainland destination of businessman Allan Zeman's Lan Kwai Fong Holdings, which is due to launch a mainland equivalent of the city's well-known Lan Kwai Fong entertainment and restaurant precinct in the heart of the provincial capital next year.

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