ChemChina, one of China's largest state-owned enterprises, unveiled its new 24.5 billion yuan (about US$3.3 billion) production base on Thursday in northern Tianjin Municipality.

The base, named after China BlueStar Group -- one of the group companies controlled by ChemChina -- will have 15 projects in chemical new materials and other fields. The base will be operational by 2009 and fully finished by 2011.

"Upon completion, it will generate annual sales of 30 billion yuan and a pre-tax profit of 3.6 billion yuan," said Yang Xingqiang, China BlueStar Group general manager.

He said that the 3.88 square-kilometer facility will mainly host a number of high- and new-tech projects in addition to recycling projects that are closely linked in the new materials industry. These projects will have both world-class scales and leading technologies with self-owned intellectual property rights.

Yang stressed these projects would be energy efficient, environmental- friendly, safe and reliable. They will also have a fairly high added-value.

China BlueStar Group is a leader in new materials development and production. In September, it sealed a deal with private equity firm Blackstone, selling a 20 percent stake for US$600 million.

(Xinhua News Agency November 16, 2007)