Construction of the largest safari park in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region commenced Tuesday.

The construction of a 63 sq-km park located in Dabancheng, a tourist destination with the easy reach of Urumqi, the autonomous regional capital of Xinjiang, will take two years to complete at a cost of 200 million yuan (about US$24 million).

Upon operation, the safari park will house more than 10,000 wildlife in 62 species including a host of species listed for top government protection, such as snow leopard, argali, brown bear and red deer.

The park will be divided into seven zones respectively for herbivorous animals, birds, beast of prey and wildlife. Two zones are expected to open to visitors in October this year.

Xinjiang will turn the safari park into a popular science educational base to help increase people's awareness for wildlife protection. Meanwhile, operation of the park will be conducive to vegetation restoration, wildlife training and bio-diversity maintenance, according to Lei Min, secretary of Dabancheng District Party Committee of Urumqi city.

(Xinhua News Agency May 20, 2004)