The infrastructure and environmental-protection projects may involve roads, parking facilities, a public transport control system, an electric power supply, sewage treatment and vegetation.

However, a detailed list of projects was still unavailable Wednesday. The details are expected to be published in stages, beginning next month.

The bid invitations will be organized by a working team set up for that purpose and affiliated to the Zhongguancun Park administrative committee. It promised that the bidding process would be fair and transparent.

Liu Zhihua, Beijing's vice-mayor and currently director of the park's administrative committee, said: "The move is intended to not only meet the requirements of world-leading high-tech enterprises and attract more of the global top 500 to set up research and development centres and headquarters here, but also to upgrade the high-tech park in accordance with international market practice instead of solely relying on fiscal investment."

The vice-mayor added that the improved infrastructure and the efforts at environmental protection will help Beijing hold a successful Olympic Games in 2008 and also bring more business opportunities to investors from China and abroad.

Sources from the park's administrative committee said that, between 1999 and 2001, the municipal government offered 1.5 billion yuan (US$180 million) in specific funds each year to improve Zhongguancun's infrastructure and application of technology and also its environment.

The State Development Bank played an active role in supporting the park, granting it long-term and medium-term loans totalling 6.5 billion yuan (US$783 million) by the end of March.

Various commercial banks have lent the park as much as 8 billion yuan (US$963 million) over the last three years for infrastructure construction.

Last month, the Beijing City Commercial Bank agreed to lend the park 30 billion yuan (US$3.61 billion).

Zhang Guilin, vice-director of the administrative committee, said: "Thanks to the support, 20 streets with a total length of 12 kilometres have been constructed or expanded, and 200 kilometres of tubing for telecommunications, 177 kilometres of natural gas pipelines and 11 kilometres of heating pipelines laid."

So far, 39 enterprises from the global top 500 have set up research and development institutes in Zhongguancun. They include General Electric, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Nortel, SMC and Sun.

(China Daily June 20, 2002)