The city of Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province, has started work on a large business cluster that covers at least 10 million square meters, this month, which will serve China's northern provinces and more than 200 million people.

This is a service project that is part of the province's 12th Five-year Plan, and is expected to be finished in eight to 10 years, and cost 80 billion yuan. It will provide complete services with business and starred hotels, theme parks, a convention center, business club, storage, logistics and distribution systems. It will also hold regular conventions, trade fairs and industry association meetings.

The start of construction work will be finished by the end of May, and, by 2015, all storage and logistics areas will be ready. When the project is completed, it will have a diverse commodities market and large business development system. The storage and logistic area will cover 8.1 million square meters, and there will be large hardware and electrical products, interior decoration, clothing, and accessories areas.

The head of the center explained that it will be multi-functional and a place where business, R&D, e-commerce, and logistics come together, and, "We'll use an advanced business model to run this cluster and provide all-round service for companies and customers. The market will be improved through high-level management, modern logistics, and R&D and it will be an international marketplace."