Biz Scene

Market

Dam contract

Gezhouba Corp, one of China's largest civil engineering companies, said it received a $1.5 billion contract to build a hydroelectric dam in Pakistan.

Gezhouba, with the help of China National Machinery & Equipment Import & Export Corp, will build the Neelum-Jhelum dam on the Neelum River to generate electricity, the company said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday.

The dam will be completed within 93 months. The project, which will generate 969 megawatts, will be inaugurated by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf at the end of the month, Pakistani newspaper The News reported yesterday.

Fund management unit

Huaxia Bank Corp, partly owned by Deutsche Bank AG, plans to set up a fund management unit to diversify revenue by tapping local investors' growing appetite for shares.

The bank is recruiting staff for the venture, Beijing-based Huaxia said in a statement on its website, without elaborating.

The regulator allowed domestic lenders to expand into fund management with foreign partners from 2005, giving banks another source of income and helping develop the nation's capital markets. Publicly traded Chinese banks last year derived 89 percent of their earnings from interest income, according to UBS AG. That compares with an average of 65 percent at banks overseas.

Biz Moves

OCBC board chairman

Overseas-Chinese Banking Corp, or OCBC, one of Asia's leading financial services groups, appointed Liang Weining as the board chairman of OCBC (China) last Friday. OCBC (China) was converted into a local corporation on August 1. Sun Zequn, Group CFO, was the board chairman before Liang's appointment.

OCBC (China) now employs more than 270 people and plans to increase the number to 1,000 before 2010.

Herbalife GM

Direct seller Herbalife (China) appointed Li Yanliang as the general manager recently. He is the only mainland-born general manager in a major foreign direct-selling company.

Li has worked in Amway (China) Daily-Use Commodity Corporation for seven years and joined Herbalife (China) in December 2004, where he has been marketing director and vice-president in charge of marketing.

"The company's headquarters highly appreciated Li's performance and regarded this appointment as part of the localization strategy," said Paul Noack, the new president for the Asia-Pacific region.

Grapevine

Phosphate plant

Sinochem Corp, the nation's largest chemicals trader, may invest 2.1 billion yuan to build a plant to mine and process phosphate, the Shanghai Securities News reported, without citing its source.

Sinochem and a local phosphate mining company in Yunnan Province set up a joint venture for the project, the report said yesterday.

Biz Unusual

Unique craft

A couple in Shanxi Province, Xu Juan and Ren Haizhuang, emboss pictures and poems on gourds, some of which are inspired by the four Chinese classics and historical events. You can find the characters in Dream of Red Mansions, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin and Journey to the West on gourds they have worked on.

Xu and Ren also personalize the gourds by embossing on them the pictures offered by their customers. The couple's unique craftwork, with the price ranging from 10 yuan to hundreds of yuan, draw many people, especially travelers from home and abroad.

Wanted: Housekeepers

Housekeepers' salaries will rise by 15 percent in the upcoming Spring Festival, according to Li Dajing, chairman of the Beijing Housekeeping Service Association.

"Every year 20,000 to 30,000 more workers are needed to meet the demand. As the New Year is approaching, the shortage becomes more acute," said Li, estimating that another 6,000 to 10,000 might be needed to ease the demand.

"Many clients are booking spring cleaning services with us, and the orders are 30 percent more than usual," said an employee of a housekeeping service company based in Beijing.

Golden pear

Golden pears, a type of delicious fruit imported from South Korea, have become the subject of delicate artwork in Zoucheng of Shandong Province in which the gorgeously yellow pears are "suspended" in fitted transparent round bottles.

The pear has a beautiful Chinese name, Jin Yu Man Tang, which means nobleness and pageantry.

With an injection of antiseptic liquid, the color and quality of the pears can last about 30 years.

The current price of a golden pear is 380 yuan.

Sanhuang chicken

Roasting duck can be a lot trickier than you can imagine. Take yellow-mud Sanhuang chicken for instance. It's only with special yellow mud scooped out from underground, more than 20 kinds flavoring, tinfoil packaging and high temperature in unique ovens for a specific time that a delicious Sanhuang chicken is ready for sale. The taste can be natural or spicy, depending on customer preference.

"Tinfoil protects the aroma and nutrition and temperature is about 1,000 C, 400 C higher than for roast ducks," said a chef. The unit price of this variety of roast chicken is 38 yuan, with a profit potential of 20 yuan.

Local

Xinjiang deposits

Mineral-rich Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is drawing more and more mining companies and turning into a leading non-metal production base.

According to the Geological Mineral Bureau, there are more than 70 kinds of non-metals in Xinjiang, which has about 1,400 mines. The proven resources of vermiculite and white mica take the first place countrywide, while there are substantial deposits of asbestos, andalusite, feldspar and magnesite. There are 27 kinds of construction materials and other non-metals with huge proven reserves as well.

Xinjiang will be the main base of vermiculite, andalusite and construction materials in the global market by 2010, according to the Autonomous Economic and Trade Commission.

Franchise in sightseeing

Hutong travels around Shicha Lake, a famous sightseeing place in Beijing, will be managed as a franchise from March to regulate the business. Over 1,000 manual tricycles at present will be brought down to 300, according to the bidding bulletin recently published on the websites of Invest Beijing (www.bjinvest.gov.cn) and Beijing Bid Information Platform (www.bjztb.gov.cn).

The companies will pay a certain amount in franchise fees annually and operate under the supervision of the local government. The bidding companies should meet certain requirements, including a minimum of 1.5 million yuan registered capital and three qualified staff with guide licenses, according to the bidding bulletin.

Port project

The central port construction project of Magang Villiage, an important part of the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), kicked off on December 20 in Hainan Province. The project will last three years, with a total investment of about 91 million yuan.

The project is divided into two parts. After the first phase of the construction, the port will have five 20,000-ton berths and the annual input and output volume will be 2.65 million tons. After the second phase, it will have four 50,000-ton berths with the annual input and output volume increasing another 2.5 million tons.

(China Daily 12/26/2007 page15)