Xinjiang Accelerates Industrial DevelopmentsThe Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region will give priority to developing its pillar industries and opening its key local industries to overseas investors over the next five years.The region will build a number of agricultural processing centers, said Zhou Shengtao, deputy secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party of China. Zhou said, the local government plans turn Xinjiang into China's largest petrol-chemical industrial base, a leading textile center and a major nonferrous metal base in five years. Xinjiang will invest 70 billion yuan in infrastructure construction in the next five years. Of the total amount, 23 billion yuan will be used for upgrading two national highways and building two new highways. In addition, construction of a railway connecting Xinjiang with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan and an airport will soon be started. Other key projects include the comprehensive harnessing of the Tarim River, a number of power projects and a sewage disposal works. As a region with numerous scenic spots, Xinjiang will build five new tourist attractions featuring natural scenery at Kanas Lake, Basten Lake, Ili grassland and Turpan. The local tourist department pledged to increase the number of overseas visitors to 400,000 and domestic visitors to 13 million by 2005. |
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