Funded by a Hong Kong-based real estate company, the project is so far the largest to receive overseas investment in Qinghai, a remote and less developed province in west China.

The local government said foreign investors are showing more and more interest in Qinghai since China launched its western development plan.

During the first seven months of this year, 24 foreign companies promised to invest 150 million US dollars in Qinghai, a year-on-year rise of 57 percent. So far 130 million US dollars have been invested, three times more than the same period of last year.

In the past 17 years, 308 overseas companies, with a contractual investment of 690 million US dollars, have been approved to invest in Qinghai, and 370 million US dollars has been invested.

The overseas investment came from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan and companies from 20 countries including Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United States, France, Canada and Australia, according to Wu Dawei, a senior official with the foreign trade and economic cooperation authorities under the provincial government.

Overseas funds have gone to areas such as hydropower plants, oil and natural gas, agriculture, pharmacy, infrastructure, real estate, environmental protection and tourism, Wu said.

Located in the eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the province's rough landscape and poor transportation system make economic development difficult.

(eastday.com October 15, 2002)