A rendering of the environmentally-friendly fine steel production project sponsored by Zenith Steel Group Co in Haimen district, Nantong [Photo/WeChat account: haimenfabu]

An environmentally-friendly fine steel production facility sponsored by Zenith Steel Group Co started construction in Haimen district, Nantong, Jiangsu province on Aug 28.

The facility will receive a total of around 100 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) in investment. The first phase of the project is expected to produce 6.06 million tons of iron and 5.85 million tons of steel and will cost 45.8 billion yuan to build.

The provincial and municipal governments said that they have attached great importance and provided full support to the project since it was signed on Jan 18.

Officials said the project is a response to the provincial government's call for the transformation and upgrading of its iron and steel industry, and will inject new momentum to Nantong's development and help the city become a strategic fulcrum in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

According to Dong Caiping, president of the Changzhou-based steel group, the company will take full advantage of Nantong's convenient location and logistics capacity to build a world-class modern steel industrial cluster focused on intelligent manufacturing, environmental friendliness, and sustainable development.

At the commencement ceremony, Chen Yong, Party secretary of Haimen, promised that the local government will take this opportunity to optimize the services for major industrial projects and spare no effort to ensure that the plant begins operation in September 2021.