The government of Gansu Province will invest 70 billion yuan in upgrading technology in 200 key industrial firms during the 2001-2005 period.

The emphasis on the technical transformation will be placed on eight sectors including petrol-chemistry, non-ferrous metal, building material, electronic information and agriculture.

When the drive is complete, the annual sales income of Jiuquan Iron and Steel Works, Lanzhou Aluminum Group and other key enterprises will surpass 10 billion yuan each.
By 2005, the ratio of the added value of Gansu's industrial sector will climb to 36 percent against 33 percent in 2000, said an official of the provincial economic and trade commission.

As an old industrial base in northwest China, Gansu earmarked 28 billion yuan to carry out a technical transformation on 5,700 projects in the past five years.