Construction of the Li-Ning Company's 3.2 billion-yuan (US$467 million) sportswear manufacturing and distribution center in Jingmen, Hubei province, was set in motion Thursday morning when the company's chairman Li Ning and Hubei governor Li Hongzhong laid the foundation stone on the 3,200 mu site.

"Building a manufacturing center in Jingmen marks a milestone in Li-Ning's expansion into the markets in central and west China," Zhang Zhiyong, CEO of the company, said at the ceremony.

The first phase of project is expected to be completed by September 2009.

Total output of the entire facility, when completed in 2013, is expected to reach 6 billion yuan, or 40 percent to 50 percent of the company's projected total production. It will create 50,000 new jobs in Jingmen.

In addition, Li-Ning has agreed to finance a logistics center and a product research facility in the industrial park.

(China Daily December 18, 2008)