China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation is to build a ship industry town in Wanzhou, a city of some 1.7m people situated halfway between Chongqing and Yichang.

The town will focus on the production of key ship components such as thrusters and wind power equipment.

Occupying an area of some 13 hectares and involving an investment of Rmb600m, phase one construction will start this year and should be completed by the end of 2010. More than 1,000 jobs will be created, according to local media.