(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) China has begun construction its first large luxury cruise liner, which is included in a package of projects aimed at boosting the tourism and shipping industries of a coastal city whose ports are primarily used to handle manufactured goods for export.
The Southeast China International Shipping Center package includes 10 projects led by the construction of a 100,000-ton luxury cruise liner, a cruise terminal and a shipping business center in the city of Xiamen, local officials said. The combined investment tops 16.73 billion yuan (2.63 billion U.S. dollars), they added.
The design and construction of the luxury cruise liner alone is estimated to cost 3.1 billion yuan. Leading international design firms will be invited to participate, said Lin Shilin, an industry and investment official with Xiamen's Haicang district, Xinhua reported.
Lin said it would take at least 47 months to build such a large luxury cruise liner, which will be capable of carrying more than 2,000 passengers upon completion. A local media report had previously stated that the cruise liner, which will be named "Xiamen, China," was not likely to test water until 2018.
According to officials, the cruise liner will be operated by a subsidiary of Beijing-based Shan Hai Shu Group, a conglomerate that has a cruise tourism development partnership with U.S.-based Royal Caribbean International.
"With our own cruise liner, it will be easier to design cruise routes and develop our own tourism products," said Huang Ju, chief operational officer of the subsidiary of Shan Hai Shu.
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