Officials from the city of Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, were in Shanghai yesterday to pursue investment for a new industrial zone that will focus on the textile trade.

　　To consolidate its position as a leading textile center and develop its high-tech industry, the city government announced plans for the 350-square-kilometer Hangzhou Bay Shaoxing New Industrial City Zone at the end of last year and started talking to investors from home and abroad.

　　To make the zone more attractive to investors, the Shaoxing govern-ment has announced plans to build a 20-kilometer bridge to link the new industrial zone to Jiaxing City, which sits just southwest of Shanghai.

　　The bridge will cut the driving time from the zone to Shanghai by 60 to 90 minutes.

　　Construction on the zone, which is expected to cost 6.5 billion yuan (US million), will start next year and be completed in 2006.

　　The new industrial zone will include three areas. The Binhai industrial area is set to become a textile manufacturing center. It will woo investment from textile-related industries.

　　The other two zones will specialize in high-tech industries, such as electronics, bio-chemicals, pharmaceuticals, new materials and environmental protection.

　　The city's textile center Shaoxing County yesterday signed eight foreign-investment deals with contracted capital totaling US480 million.