??? THE city approved 111 foreign-funded projects with total investment of US$1.11 billion in the first quarter of this year and US$1.06 billion had been paid by the investors, an increase of 10.2 percent over the same period of last year. The growth ranked second among similar cities in the country. Hong Kong has the largest number of projects invested in the city. In the first quarter, about US$385 million was paid by Hong Kong investors, accounting for 36.7 percent of the total amount. Japanese, South Korean and Taiwanese companies paid US$194 million, US$140 million, US$529 million respectively, increases of 439 percent, 77.8 percent and 122 percent respectively over the same period of last year. Among the new projects, 59 projects with US$581 million are in the service industry. About US$536 million has been paid. Meanwhile, 94 foreign-funded projects increased their investment to US$580 million. “At present, there are more than 130 big projects each with investment of more than US$10 million which are under planning. Total contract investment reaches more than US$5 billion,” said Ma Weigang, director of the city’s commerce bureau. ?(Wang Yuanyuan, Shen Junlin) | 