Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has received the green light to establish its first bonded zone at the Alataw Pass, the country's largest inland port, officials said yesterday.

The bonded zone at Alataw Pass, covering 5.6 square kilometers in the Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bortala, will be the 16th of its kind in the country, said Oquer, a top official in Bortala.

He said the first phase of the 800 million yuan (US$123.5 million) project, covering 2.96 square kilometers, will be completed before the end of this year.

With the new bonded zone, the Alataw Pass will evolve into a comprehensive free-trade zone integrating trade, processing and logistic services, he said.

Alataw Pass, which has a railway, highway and oil transmission pipelines, has witnessed the export of large quantities of Chinese-made food, textiles, garments, shoes and chemical products, as well as imports of rolled steel, crude oil and leather products from central Asian countries.

The inland port has been in operation since June 1990.

Last year, it handled 25.24 million tons of imports and exports valued at a combined US$11.87 billion.

Meanwhile, it reported 10.37 billion yuan of customs tax revenue.