DONGJIAKOU Port, which is costing 30 billion yuan, is expected to be finished ahead of schedule. Three ports in the harbor would be commissioned at the end of the year.

More than 10 billion yuan had been spent on infrastructure while more than 16 billion yuan has been invested by companies in the port area, Zhang Hao, vice general manager of the Qingdao Port, said.

The main street in the port area had opened and the main breakwater pier had been finished. Work had already started on a railway to the port, foundations for roads to carry cargo trucks from the ports were all finished. Other infrastructure, such as radar navigation and power, were all under construction and preparations for the opening of the ports was under way, Zhang said.

Work was also under way on an LNG project for Sinopec, an ore port project by Qingdao Port and a port project for Huaneng Group. Of these, the LNG terminal which costs 9.7 billion yuan would be the only natural gas terminal in Shandong Province. A 400,000-ton iron ore port and a 200,000-ton ore bulk carrier terminal costing 4 billion yuan would be commissioned at the end of the year. Several other projects, such as a 4 billion yuan ore port for Wanbang Group and a chemical engineering port for Haiwan Group, were nearing completion.

The development of Dongjiakou Port would transform Qingdao Port into the world’s No. 1 ore port and the country’s top port with the biggest throughput of oil, playing a key role in the economic development of China and northeast Asia.

 (Wang Yuanyuan, Li Xiaohan)