"By then, the two cities will be linked and will become real 'twin cities'" Zhang said.

With its unique geographic position, Heihe has greatly benefited from importing rich energy resources from its neighbour.

Heihe began importing electricity power from the Amur Region in 2004.

With the establishment of more power lines, Heihe is expected to import 2.5 billion kilowatt hours by the end of next year and 4 billion kilowatt hours by 2008.

Ample power support makes Zhang confident on developing more industries with high power consumption.

"Our aim is to build Heihe into an important industrial production base in the country," he said.

Sirius Industry, a private company, plans to co-operate with Moscow-based Russian Lanta Oil Company to build a refinery in the Amur Region.

The oil refinery is designed to have an annual processing capability of 5 million tons of crude oil.

The total investment is US$250 million, said Tao Ran, president of Sirius Industry.
Tao said the refinery is expected to start at the end of this year and be finished in two years.

A 64.5-kilometre-long pipeline under the Heilongjiang River will also be built to transport processed oil products, such as heavy oil and diesel.

A storage station will be constructed in Heihe to store the oil, he said.

"The project will enlarge the country's oil import scale and increase local tax income, as well as provide more employment," Tao said.

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