Zhaodong, which is under the jurisdiction of Daqing, will develop the food-processing and bio tech sectors, and traditional Chinese medicine as its core industries, with five zones planned.

According to the plan, construction of the corridor will be in three stages.

The focus of work this year and in 2007 will be to construct the initial start-up zone covering 114.5 square kilometres.

By 2010, the size of the zone is scheduled to more than double to 274 square kilometres, which will serve as a platform to attract domestic and overseas investment, part of the ambitious plan to revitalize this old industrial base.

The corridor is expected to cover 571 square kilometres by 2015, when a cluster of machinery equipment manufacturing, petrochemicals, food and beverage and pharmaceuticals plants will take shape in the zone, according to the plan, with the corridor set to further expand to 861 square kilometres by 2020.

The corridor will mainly be constructed on the province's saline-alkali land, with only a small proportion coming from arable land, which makes great sense as farmland is increasingly becoming scarce.

In a bid to develop the corridor, the provincial and municipal governments will strive to create a favourable environment to attract both domestic and overseas investors.

In accordance with central government's policy of "Reinvigorating the Northeast's Old Industry Bases," the provincial government will hammer out preferential policies and incentives in fields including land use, taxation and investment approval procedures.

Those policies, which are currently under discussion, will be issued in the near future.

The plan to build the corridor, which sits along a railway, is a strategic decision by the Heilongjiang government to revitalize the province one of country's major old industrial bases into a new economic powerhouse in the country, experts say.

Rich in oil and gas resources and relying on its prowess in terms of heavy industries, the decision to construct the industrial corridor is "in line with this northeastern province's natural conditions and industrial history," experts say, citing the example of the government's decision to choose the petrochemical industry as one of the five core industries in the corridor.

The area the corridor runs through is the most developed in the province, with heavy machinery equipment, petrochemicals and the pharmaceutical industry already relatively well developed.

The region, which only accounts for 4.7 per cent of the area of the province, currently produces 49 per cent of Heilongjiang's GDP (gross domestic product).

Per capita GDP in the region is 32,000 yuan (US$4,050), about 2.3 times the province's average.

The area also boasts the province's most abundant pool of talents, which bodes well for the development of the high-tech and other knowledge-based industries.

For instance, the region has 40 universities and institutes of higher learning, accounting for 73 per cent of province's total.

In particular, experts say that central government's policy of "Reinvigorating the Northeast," a policy designed to revive old industrial provinces, offers Heilongjiang an unprecedented opportunity.

And the central government is also stepping up its support for the country's major grain-producing regions such as Heilongjiang, which experts say will also benefit the province in its bid to develop the corridor.

In addition to the favourable domestic environment, the external economic climate is also positive for the corridor, experts say.

In addition, the industry corridor is located in the heart of the Northeast Asia, making it an important regional economic and trade hub.

Thanks to its reform and the oil boom in recent years, the Russian economy is now experiencing rapid growth.

Russia's thriving economy will present the industry corridor with more opportunities when it comes to seeking foreign investment, resources and markets, according to experts.

In a bid to accelerate the project's development, the provincial government has already set up a taskforce, drawing members from different governmental agencies, to co-ordinate the construction of the industry corridor.

However, obstacles still remain in terms of the construction of the corridor, experts warn.

The overall economic development level in the area set aside for the corridor remains at a relatively low level.

And the infrastructure facilities in the initial start-up zones of the industry corridor leave much to be desired, while the regional co-operation mechanism is not yet up to the task, experts point out.

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