New Customs Open in East ChinaNew customs recently started service on Daxie Island of Ningbo city, an emerging deep-water port and export processing zone in Zhejiang Province.Daxie Island occupies an area of 30.84 square kilometers and is about 40 kilometers to the east of Ningbo city. It is separated by water from the Ningbo Economic and Technological Development Zone and the Ningbo Free Trade Zone. In 1993, the Chinese State Council ratified a plan by the China International Trust and Investment Corp (CITIC) to develop the island and granted it the status of a national economic and technological development zone. Based on the CITIC plan, the island will be built into a world- class port and export-oriented economic zone in 15 years. The island is now linked to the mainland by a highway and railway bridge. Major infrastructure facilities are already in place. By the end of 2000, nearly 1,000 locally funded enterprises and over 20 large foreign-funded enterprises, including petroleum giant BP were incorporated on the island. |
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