A foundation stone laying ceremony was held Tuesday to mark the start of construction for a project for sheet metal, China's biggest import.
The project, to be built at the Ma'anshan Iron and Steel Complex in east China's Anhui Province, is to cost 5.2 billion yuan, making it the largest Sino-foreign joint venture in the industrial sector of Anhui.
Ma'anshan opened international bidding for the work. Ultimately,SMS Consortium composed of prestigious companies in Germany and Italy won the bid. The Mitsubishi Trading Co. won the cold-rollingproduction line.
Upon completion of the project in 2004, it will be equipped with a continuous casting and rolling production line with an annual production capacity of 2 million tons of sheet metal, and amodern cold-rolling production line with an annual output of 1.3 million tons.
(People's Daily December 19, 2001)