China Builds

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China to build shopping center in Cancun

Updated: 2012-02-22 16:53

By Hu Yuanyuan (chinadaily.com.cn)

China plans to play a dominant role in establishing a huge shopping center in Cancun, Mexico, to promote bilateral trade between the two countries, industry sources said on Wednesday.

Investment in the project, to be called "Cancun Dragon Mart", is expected to reach 10 billion yuan ($1.54 billion), with China taking a 40 percent stake and Mexico and US government each contributing 30 percent.

Sponsored by the foreign trade development bureau under the Ministry of Commerce, Cancun Dragon Mart will be developed by Chinamex Middle East Investment & Trade Promotion Center Co Ltd and Chengkai (Beijing) Investment Co Ltd.

"A Chinese commodity fair will be held in the shopping center after Spring Festival in 2013," said Hao Feng, chairman of Chinamex Middle East Investment & Trade Promotion Center Co Ltd.

China to build shopping center in Cancun | Economy | chinadaily.com.cn

 

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21 February 2012

Last updated at 21:44 GMT

China's Great Wall Motor opens first European plant

Great Wall Motor has become the first Chinese carmaker to open an assembly plant in Europe as it aims to lift sales in the region.

The factory, in the northern village of Bahovitsa in Bulgaria, will eventually produce 50,000 vehicles a year.

The facility was built together with Great Wall's Bulgarian partner Litex Motors.

It will manufacture Great Wall's Hover SUV, Steed pick-up and Voleex city car models.

The plant will initially employ 150 workers capable of making 4,000 vehicles per year, rising to 2,000 employees when at full capacity in 2013.

"Great Wall's plans to build a plant in Bulgaria and produce automobiles here are aimed at boosting our production capacity and exporting these automobiles for the European market," company president and chief executive Feng Ying Wang said.

"We estimate that in three to five years we will have a wide range of models made here and that these cars will be sold in all European countries."

BBC News - China's Great Wall Motor opens first European plant

 

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Egypt: Chinese cars coming

February 21, 2012 6:04 pm

by Tom Gara

Egypt may be lurching towards a much-needed IMF loan, but that hasn't put off some foreign partners. GB Auto, the Cairo-listed auto assembler, will begin putting together and distributing cars from China's Geely in the second quarter of 2012.

GB will assemble the cars from kits supplied by Geely (the Hangzhou-based carmaker that bought Volvo in a $1.5bn deal in 2010), and will distribute the finished product in markets across North Africa, beginning with Egypt. The deal is "one of several partnerships we will announce this year," said GB's chairman, Raouf Ghabbour, in a statement.

GB controls 32 per cent of the Egyptian passenger car market, where it rose to success as the exclusive local assembler, importer and distributor of cars from South Korea's Hyundai. It is now the the Middle East's largest car assembler. High tarriffs on fully-assembled imported cars have encouraged a number of international auto brands, including BMW and China's Chery, to have their vehicles put together in Egypt.

For Geely, the Egyptian deal is another step in efforts to push its products out across the world, after announcing last year that it would set up a production hub in Indonesia to target the fast-growing Southeast Asian market. The company plans on selling at least one model in the UK by the end of 2012.

While 2011 was a tough year for car sales (and pretty much everything else) in Egypt, the vehicle market is still a good prospect as a large and overwhelmingly young population fuel long-term economic growth. GB says there are about 30 cars per 1,000 people in Egypt, compared to 128 in China and 109 in Algeria.

GB also does a healthy side business as a local importer and distributor of three-wheel tuk-tuks, or autorickshaws, made by India's Bajaj group. Tuk-tuk sales broke records in the first three quarters of 2011 (fourth quarter results are not yet available), and accounted for about 12 per cent of the company's total sales. The company says the tuk-tuk's popularity in Egypt's rural hinterland and informal urban slums made it largely immune to a slowdown in the passenger car industry.

And if long-mooted reforms of Egypt's bloated subsidy regime lead to higher fuel prices, expect tuk-tuks, powered by something barely larger than a lawnmower engine, to become increasingly attractive for urban transport.

Egypt: Chinese cars coming | beyondbrics | News and views on emerging markets from the Financial Times – FT.com

 

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Mainstream, China's Goldwind Build $140 Million Chilean Farm

February 20, 2012, 10:23 AM EST

By Sally Bakewell

(Updates with wind project details in second paragraph.)

Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Mainstream Renewable Power Ltd. will build a $140 million wind farm in northern Chile using machines made by Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co. as China's second-largest turbine-maker increases overseas orders.

Mainstream will use 47 turbines made by Goldwind USA Inc., a unit of the Urumqi-based company, at its Ckani wind park in the Chilean region of Antofagasta, it said today in a statement.

Chinese companies including China Ming Yang Wind Power Group Ltd. are seeking expansion abroad to combat a slowing home market after a tighter government approval process for new projects increased competition. Goldwind bought two wind farms in Montana this year and has taken orders in seven other U.S. states since it began sales in the region in June 2010.

"While we have much work ahead of us in the Americas, our efforts in western markets are a testament to how our localized approach to globalization has helped foster the ongoing health and growth of the global wind industry," Wang Haibo, executive vice president of Goldwind, said in the e-mailed statement.

The 70-megawatt Ckani park, which obtained environmental approval in December, has a potential capacity of 240 megawatts for a $480 million investment, Dublin-based Mainstream said. The company plans to operate the 240 megawatts by 2015.

The first 70 megawatts will use Goldwind's GW87 1.5 megawatt models and should begin construction by the end of this year. The deal is the second between the companies in Chile, which has a 6,435-kilometer (4,000-mile) coastline and sea breezes that make it suited for wind energy. Mainstream bought 23 Goldwind turbines for the 34.5-megawatt Negrete Cuel farm in central Chile in December.

The South American country is studying a law to require it to get 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, up from 5 percent now, and 10 percent scheduled for 2024.

The agreement today establishes an equal joint venture between Mainstream and Goldwind to build the park.

--Editor: Tony Barrett, Alex Devine

Mainstream, China’s Goldwind Build $140 Million Chilean Farm - Businessweek

 

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Venezuela, China's Citic Group To Work On Oil, Mining Projects

Published February 24, 2012

Dow Jones Newswires

CARACAS – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez signed a series of accords with China's Citic Group Friday which included plans for both parties to work together on building offshore oilfield platforms and develop a gold mine formerly operated by a Canadian mining company.

The president signed the deals during a meeting with heads of Citic and other Venezuelan government officials broadcast on state television, just hours before Chavez left for Cuba where he is scheduled to undergo further surgery in relation to a tumor he had removed last year.

Delegations from Citic Group have visited Caracas frequently in recent years as both countries strengthen economic and political ties. Chinese state firms have made billions of dollars in loans to the South American country in exchange for shipments of more than 400,000 barrels of oil a day. The Asian nation operates projects in Venezuela in sectors ranging from agriculture to housing to oil.

As part of the latest agreements, Chavez said Citic will "participate" in Venezuela's Petropiar heavy oil upgrader facility, which is currently operated as a joint venture between state energy company Petroleos de Venezuela, or PdVSa, and Chevron Corp. (CVX). The president, however, didn't specify what the Asian company will do at the oil venture but said that he would be monitoring progress on the agreement from Cuba.

Elsewhere, Citic is also set to help Venezuela develop the Las Cristinas gold mine, Chavez said, adding that it could be "one of the largest reserves in the world."

The project was formerly operated by Canada's Crystallex International Corp. (CRYXF) until their contract was terminated by the Venezuelan government one year ago. The company, which recently filed for bankruptcy protection, is seeking billions in compensation from the Venezuelan government through an arbitration case pending in front of the World Bank's International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes.

Chavez left for Havana Friday for surgery after announcing earlier this week that doctors had detected a possibly malignant lesion in his pelvic area, where a baseball-sized tumor was removed last year. The ailing 57-year-old socialist leader made the admission after months of declaring that he was cancer free. He has never publicly state what kind of cancer he suffered from and has received most of his medical treatment in secret in Cuba.

Though he has pledged to make a rapid recovery, the president's announcement has raised questions over his ability to campaign for the Oct. 7 presidential elections, where he is seeking a third six-year term.

Read more: Venezuela, China's Citic Group To Work On Oil, Mining Projects | Fox Business

 

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Ford opens 4th factory in China to build Ford Focus

By ALISA PRIDDLE

Published: Friday, Feb. 24, 2012 - 12:00 am

DETROIT -- Ford on Friday opened its fourth vehicle assembly plant in China to try to gain traction in a key market where Ford has lagged the competition.

The $490 million facility in Chongqing, known as CFMA Chongqing Assembly 2 or CQ2 for short, was built in partnership with Ford's joint venture Changan Ford Mazda Automobile.

"This is a very special day," Joe Hinrichs, president of Ford Asia Pacific and Africa, said in a release.

"It's not every day that you open a new assembly plant. This new plant represents a decades-long investment that will transform the lives of thousands of people," Hinrichs said.

General Motors and Volkswagen are sales leaders in China. Ford sold about 320,000 vehicles in China in 2011 while GM and VW sell more than 2 million annually.

The newest plant, which will be able to produce 150,000 vehicles annually, increases Ford's capacity in China to more than 600,000 vehicles a year.

It is the second Ford vehicle assembly plant in Chongqing and its third in China. Ford also has engine and transmission plants in Chongqing which is becoming the automaker's manufacturing hub. Ford said the region is now second only to southeast Michigan as a global manufacturing center.

Additional plants are located in Nanjing, China.

The new Chongqing plant is now building 150 prototypes as it ramps up production of the new Ford Focus, which will launch this spring. More vehicles are expected to follow, as CQ2 has the flexibility to make six different types of vehicle.

"Ford is committed to China and a greener future," said Dave Schoch, chairman and CEO of Ford China. "The new Focus is an incredibly popular and successful global vehicle, and we are delighted to introduce it to China, as the first of 15 new vehicles we are bringing here by 2015."

Ford opens 4th factory in China to build Ford Focus - Sacramento Living - Sacramento Food and Wine, Home, Health | Sacramento Bee

 

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China assists Laos to build ASEM conference center

วันศุกร์ ที่ 24 ก.พ. 2555 VIENTIANE, Feb 24 (Xinhua) -- A ground-breaking ceremony was held here Thursday for the Lao International Convention Center(ICC) , a Chinese-aid project especially designed for the Ninth Asia- Europe Meeting (ASEM) venue.

Boviengkham Vongdara, Lao minister of science and technology and head of the committee in charge of the ICC construction project, highlighted the importance of the international-standard conference center as the Lao authorities are stepping up preparations for the ASEM summit in November.

Boviengkham appreciated the grant aid from the Chinese government, adding that the China-funded project is a symbol of traditional friendship and fruitful cooperation between the two countries and two peoples.

Under an agreement recently reached by the governments of China and Laos, China will provide 150 million yuan in grant aid to build the facility.

Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce and President of the China- Laos Cooperation Commission Chen Jian said the ICC project embodies the friendly cooperative relations between the two countries, hoping that both sides regard this as an opportunity and further promote the economic and trade relations to a higher level.

Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Thongloun Sisoulith, Lao Minister of Public Works and Transport Sommad Pholsena, Chinese Ambassador to Laos Bu Jianguo and other high-ranking officials from China and Laos attended the ceremony.

The project, which covers some seven hectares, has a building area of almost 25,000 square meters.

The conference center will be completed in October before the summit takes place on Nov. 5-6, according to the Chinese contractor.

The ICC is one of the most important high-class facilities for the November summit, which will be the largest event ever to be held in Laos, with some 50 heads of state and government from Europe and Asia expected to attend. (Xinhua)

China assists Laos to build ASEM conference center

 

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Plans progressing to build two new secondary schools

By Observer News

Friday, February 24th, 2012.

ST JOHN'S, Antigua – Discussions are ongoing with representatives of the Chinese government in Antigua on construction of a secondary school at Five Islands.

This comes as the Ministry of Education forges ahead with plans for the full implementation of Universal Secondary Education (USE).

Briefing education officials earlier this week, Assistant Director of Education in charge of Planning, Doristeen Etinoff said several meetings have been held among education officials, members of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China and the Public Works Department, which is finalising the first phase of the proposed project.

According to Etinoff, phase two of the arrangement will see the Chinese returning to their government for approval on the terms and conditions agreed to, which will be followed by the commencement of the architectural layout of the school.

Education Minister Dr Jacqui Quinn-Leandro is anticipating that construction of the school will be complete by September 2013, the period in which Universal Secondary Education (USE) is expected be fully implemented in Antigua & Barbuda.

Financing for the construction of the new secondary institution will be made available through a grant from the People's Republic of China totalling 75 million RMB.

The proposed Five Islands Secondary School will have a capacity to house 750 students; 6450 square metres will be divided into classrooms, a gymnasium, IT and science laboratories and a music room among others.

Discussions are also ongoing between officials of the Ministry of Education and Profiles Antigua Inc/UWI Consortium on the construction of another secondary school at Tomlinsons, to be funded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

The two new schools, when completed, are expected to ease the strain being experienced on over-populated public secondary institutions.

Plans progressing to build two new secondary schools | Antigua Observer Newspaper

 

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S Korea's SK to build $1.1 bil China petchems complex with Sinopec, BP

Seoul (Platts)--23 Feb2012 /442 am EST/942 GMT

South Korea's SK Group, which owns the country's top oil refiner, has agreed to build a Won 1.2 trillion ($1.1 billion) petrochemicals complex in China jointly with China's state-owned Sinopec and BP, the company said Wednesday.

SK, which signed a preliminary deal with Sinopec and BP Wednesday, said the complex will have the capacity to produce 200,000 mt/year of butanediol, 600,000 mt/year of acetic acid and 250,000 mt/year of ammonia.

"The complex in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing breaks ground as early as July or August and is expected to reap more than Yuan 2 billion ($318 million) in pre-tax profits after completion in late 2014 or 2015," SK said.

The butanediol plant, which will cost Yuan 3.7 billion, will be built and run by a joint venture between SK and Sinopec. It will be the biggest plant in China producing butanediol to make spandex, synthetic leather and polyurathane, SK said.

The acetic acid plant will be constructed and run by a joint venture between BP and Sinopec, while the ammonia plant will be built and run solely by Sinopec, SK said, without providing shareholding details on the ventures.

The Chongqing butanediol plant will be SK's third petrochemical project with Sinopec. The two companies built a $26.5 million solvents plant, with a capacity of 60,000 mt/year, in Shanghai in 2004. Last December, SK and Sinopec signed a memorandum of understanding to build an 800,000 mt/year ethylene plant in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province.

"The Chongqing project is expected to accelerate SK's push for expanding projects in China," the company said.

The SK Group is a family-run business conglomerate which owns South Korea's biggest oil refiner SK Innovation which in turn has a petrochemical arm SK Global Chemical. The group controls dozens of affiliates in various industrial segments, including the country's biggest LPG distributor, SK Gas.

S Korea's SK to build $1.1 bil China petchems complex with Sinopec, BP - Petrochemicals | Platts News Article & Story

 

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Beijing to Build World's Busiest Airport

2012-02-25 19:27:08

CRIENGLISH.com Web Editor: Fuyu

Beijing is to build a new airport, which is likely to be the world's largest in terms of passenger traffic, to the southeast of the city, China National Radio reports.

The new airport, yet to be named, is to be located on the border between Beijing and Langfang, a city in north China's Hebei province which surrounds Beijing. It will be approximately 45 kilometers from Beijing's city center; about an hour's drive.

The airport is designed to be a key international airport. It will have nine runways and is expected to direct more than 130 million passengers and 5,500,000 tones of cargo annually, replacing the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States, to become the busiest in the world.

The new airport will also act as a hub, connecting highways, transportation roads and roads in rural areas together.
This will be the third civil airport in Beijing, following the Nanyuan Airport and the Beijing International Airport, which houses Terminal three, the largest building in the world.

When put into use, the new airport will serve Beijing, as well as the nearby Tianjin municipality and Hebei province.

Beijing to Build World's Busiest Airport

 

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China's FAW invests R600m to build vehicle plant at Coega IDZ

February 29 2012 at 05:00am

By Roy Cokayne

First Automobile Works (FAW), the Chinese vehicle manufacturer, is to invest R600 million in South Africa in a state-of-the-art truck and passenger car plant at the Coega industrial development zone (IDZ) outside Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape.

The investment, which is being jointly funded by FAW and the China-Africa Development Fund, is expected to create 500 permanent jobs in the Eastern Cape in the first phase.

Mehdi Abbas, FAW South Africa's operations manager, said yesterday that R200m was being invested in the first phase to build a commercial vehicle production line with an annual capacity of 5 000 units.

Abbas said R400m would be invested in the second phase in a passenger vehicle line with an annual capacity of 30 000 units.

He said the first commercial vehicles were expected to roll off the line by the final quarter of next year, with construction of the passenger vehicle line commencing directly thereafter and expected to be operational in the second half of 2015.

He stressed the investment was based on using South Africa as an export base for other parts of Africa.

Abbas said commercial vehicles were currently exported directly from China to Angola, Tanzania and Kenya, where FAW's annual sales were in excess of 3 000 units.

He said the R600m plant formed part of a $100m (R760m) investment in South Africa with the balance of the investment to be used to develop grassroots part suppliers.

Abbas's comments coincided with a sod turning function in the Coega IDZ yesterday signalling the commencement of construction on the first phase of the project.

FAW SA is a joint venture between the FAW Group in China and local businessman Richard Leiter, the FAW SA managing director.

Abbas said FAW Group in China owned a majority shareholding in the local company, but declined to comment on the shareholding split.

He said sales into the South African market of a completely built up FAW sport utility vehicle, half-ton single and double cab bakkie and panel van would commence this year with distribution and retailing handled by the Imperial Group.

Abbas said FAW SA anticipated annual sales would total 1 000 vehicles a model.

He said FAW SA would push to achieve the 50 000 unit annual production threshold in the government's Automotive Production and Development Programme and qualify for incentives under the programme after the first full year of operation at its Coega plant.

Ayanda Vilakazi, the marketing and communications manager of the Coega Development Corporation, said the investment followed the recent visit by President Jacob Zuma to China, where he signed bilateral trade and investment agreements between the two countries.

Vilakazi said FAW's decision to invest in the Eastern Cape was prompted by Coega's location, the proximity of the Port of Ngqura, the logistical solutions on offer, the availability of skills in the Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan area and support mechanisms offered by Coega.

 

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Chinese to build US$150m Children's Hospital in Couva

PM: Work to start within a month

By Sue-Ann Wayow [email protected]

Story Created: Mar 2, 2012 at 9:50 PM ECT

WITHIN a month's time, work begins on the multi-million-dollar state-of-the-art Children's Hospital with the help of the Chinese government.

Yesterday was the sod-turning ceremony for the hospital in Couva near to the Solomon Hochoy Highway between the Couva and Indian Trail overpasses.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said China was funding the building of the hospital, to be completed in 2014.

Jearlean John, chairperson of the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT), said it will cost approximately US$150 million to build the facility.

She said because the Chinese government was providing all the funds for the project, they will be in charge of choosing the contractors, but overseen by several ministries.

A hotel, shopping mall and a guest house will be developed as a second phase of the project, to promote health tourism.

Dr Lackram Bodoe, chairman of the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) said the SWRHA was pleased with the location of the site.

He said statistics indicated that outpatient visits at the San Fernando General Hospital increased from 7,800 in 2009 to 11,000 in 2011. He said the inpatient admissions at the hospital increased from 7,000 to 9,000.

Bodoe said the new hospital will ease the burden on the hospital since annually there were over 70,00 patient-visits to the Couva District Health Facility.
He said the new hospital will be able to serve approximately 300,000 citizens.

Bodoe said, "In addition to the 80-bed children's hospital, there will also be 150 adult beds, which will further serve to alleviate the chronic bed shortage patients experience at the San Fernando General Hospital.

"The provision of a burns care unit, separate children's and adult emergency departments, helicopter roof-top access for emergencies, and the establishment of a multi-training facility for medicine and nursing promise to make this a state-of-the-art facility."

Persad-Bissessar said there will be training at the facility "so that those skills and expertise can remain here for the benefit of everyone in our country".
And she said even though State-owned Caribbean Airlines was assisting children to travel abroad for medical treatment, it was not enough along with the assistance given from the Children's Life Fund.

She said the Couva Children's Hospital will address that problem.

Chinese to build US$150m Children's Hospital in Couva | Trinidad Express Newspaper | News