Southwest China's Sichuan Province has decided to build an inter-city high-tech industrial belt to serve development of western China.

The new high-tech industrial belt includes Chengdu, the provincial capital, Mianyang, a midsize city some 100 km to the northeast, and Deyang, another city in between.

The three cities have six state-class engineering technology centers, seven key national laboratories and 22 institutions of higher learning, with 37 academicians and 325,000 scientific and technological professionals. The output value of high-tech products from the three cities totaled 40 billion yuan (US$4.8 billion) in 1998.

The three cities have an advantage in high-tech industries such as information, electronics, bio-engineering, new materials, aerospace, laser and nuclear energy.

By 2005, the high-tech output value of the belt is expected to reach 100 billion yuan (US$12 billion), accounting for a quarter of the industrial output value of the economic circle around Chengdu Plain.