An aerial view of the luxury cruise liner project funded by China Merchants Group in Haimen [Photo/WeChat account: dongzhouchengshi]

Commencement ceremonies for 32 industrial projects worth more than 100 million yuan ($14.3 million) each were held in Haimen, a county-level city in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, March 13.

According to Chen Yong, secretary of the Communist Party of China Haimen Committee, the projects have received a total of 24.87 billion yuan in investment, including 10 valued at more than 1 billion yuan each and two valued at 5 billion yuan each.

Over 80 percent of the projects are involved in emerging industries, including intelligent manufacturing, new materials, new energy, biological medicine and modern logistics.

A luxury cruise liner project funded by State-owned enterprise China Merchants Group will cost 5 billion yuan to build. It will consist of a laser center, a laser laboratory, a shipyard and an assembly center and be equipped with 50 sets of imported large-size equipment valued at €120 million ($130 million).

Upon completion, the project is expected to produce 1.5 100,000-ton medium-size luxury cruise liners annually, earning 10 billion yuan each year.

Construction on the group's No 2 yard for cruise ships and a shipping industrial park started in Haimen Dec 22, 2019. The shipyard is designed to be the first indoor dry shipyard in China, while the park is expected to form a domestic supply chain for cruise ships, breaking the existing overseas monopoly.