Shandong Province, an economic powerhouse in east China, will open the door of its infrastructure sector to private investment from both home and abroad in an effort to accelerate local communications facilities construction in the next five years.

Zhou Qiutian, director of the provincial bureau of communications, said Saturday that the province would need more than 40 billion yuan (4.84 billion US dollars) to build about 1, 480 kilometers of expressways in the coming five years.

The province's plan to rebuild or upgrade 80,000 kilometers of highways in rural areas and to build highways to link its major islands with the mainland area of the province needs 8 billion yuan (967.35 million US dollars), Zhou said.

Shandong also needs huge investment to build Qingdao Port, a leading port of the province and one of the country's major ports, into an international shipping center in northern China.

According to Zhou, foreign investors are also welcome to invest in state-owned communications enterprises by way of cooperation, joint venture or transfer of stock ownership.

The ratio of private and foreign investment in the sector is expected to reach 20 percent by 2005 and 30 percent by 2010, Zhou said.

Currently, the coastal province of Shandong has 2,524 kilometers of expressways in operation, ranking first in China. The province has 26 ports, 17 of which are open to foreign ships.

The province would present six major highway projects and a dozen port projects to both domestic and foreign investors in the near future, Zhou said.

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