A 27-square-kilometer luxury harbor is being planned for Qingdao, Shandong Province, where the Olympic water sports will take place in the summer of 2008.

　　The marina, including a 120-yacht berth with a five-star restaurant, luxury shops and villas, is a collaborative effort between the Qingdao government and a Shanghai-based joint venture comprised of Sunseeker China GmbH (Shanghai Rep. Office) and S.M.O.C. Hong Kong.

　　According to Traugott Kaminski, CEO of Sunseeker China GmbH, the harbor's construction will commence after a final contract is signed this week.

　　"You will be able to see the parking lot area in October, but the whole project will not be finished for two years," he said.

　　The joint venture will invest at least US$35 million in the project, which is planned in Huangdao Economic & Technology Development Zone.

　　On Saturday, Kaminski and his partner, Hans-Hinrich Shulz, Sunseeker China GmbH's chairman, appeared in Qingdao with the company's two motor yachts, Manhattan 64 and Predator 75.

　　The yachts, to be joined by three other luxury boats in May, will often be seen in Qingdao when a floating peer is built.

　　"We wanted to develop the harbor, and were looking for a foreign company to cooperate with when Sunseeker joined," said Ji Ming, an official from the development zone.

　　A meeting last June led to a first-draft contract in October.

　　"It is the right time for the promotion of yachts in China, for which a first-level marina is certainly needed," said Ting Ka Yee, managing director of S.M.O.C Hong Kong.

　　At present, China has few marinas for private yachts, but several are on the way as developers anticipate a booming industry as millionaires in the country become more common.

　　Building a luxury harbor in Shanghai may be inevitable, too.

　　Kaminiski said that his company has invited two German engineers to assess the feasibility of creating a marina on Hengsha Island in northeast Shanghai.