China to start work on new town soon

Work on building a new town called Eternal Prosperity will begin next month to replace one of the cities destroyed in last year's Sichuan earthquake, China state media reported yesterday.

Billions of dollars will be spent on the new seat of Beichuan county that will be built 23km from the old town and well away from geological fault lines, Xinhua news agency said, citing one of the planners.

The first phase of construction to be completed by 2012 will cost 19.3 billion yuan (2.8 billion dollars) and include a school designed by experts from Harvard University and other leading global institutions.

Beichuan was one of the worst-hit towns in the May 12 quake because it lay at the juncture of two fault lines.

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