The construction of a 100-billion yuan (16 billion U.S. dollars) high-tech zone was jointly launched Tuesday in southwest China's Sichuan province by the provincial government and a Singapore company.

The Singapore-Sichuan High-tech Innovation Park, planned to cover 10.34 square kilometers and house 120,000 residents in Gaoxin district and Tianfu district in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, is expected to attract an investment of 100 billion yuan from 2012 to 2020.

Under the guidance of Sichuan government authorities, the project will be operated by the Singapore-Sichuan company Sino-Singapore (Chengdu) High-Tech Innovation Park Development Company Ltd., with a registered capital of 297 million U.S. dollars, jointly invested by Singapore state-owned company Temasek Holdings and Chengdu High-tech Investment Group, said Tang Hua, deputy director of the development administration of Gaoxin district.

Of the 100 billion yuan investment, 20 billion yuan (3.2 billion U.S. dollars) will be invested by the Sino-Singapore company, mainly for infrastructure construction, while the rest will come from global investors, Tang said.

The park will mainly focus on eight industries including information technology, service outsourcing, digital media, biomedicine, environmental protection, precision machinery, finance and training, Tang said.

The park is expected to have 120,000 to 150,000 employees as a new platform for China, Singapore and other countries to invest in western China, said Lim Swee Say, minister of Prime Minister's Office, advisor of Singapore-Sichuan Trade and Investment Committee, secretary-general of Singapore National Trade Union Congress.

As the first Sino-Singapore large-scale integrated project, the park is expected to be a model for China's western development, Lim said.

Jiang Jufeng, governor of Sichuan said the launch of the park's construction signified that Singapore had gained the upper hand in the new round of western development.

Sichuan with the largest economy of China's western provinces, was one of the first Chinese provinces which set up cooperation with Singapore five years ago.

The province's GDP reached two trillion yuan in 2011. In the same year, Sichuan attracted 11 billion U.S. dollars and the total import and export volume was 47.7 billion U.S. dollars, which topped China's western provinces.

Over the past five years, Singapore's investment in Sichuan has increased 11 fold and Sino-Singapore bilateral trade volume increased 5.5 times.

Non-stop flights had been set up between Chengdu and Singapore by either country's airlines.

Singapore enterprises had over 20 years of investing experiences in Sichuan, which made them clear about the potential of China's western provinces, said Low Sin Leng, executive chairwoman of Sembcorp Development Ltd, which participated the investment.

With advantages in human resources and infrastructures, plus Sichuan's pleasing residential environment, the investment work of the park has progressed smoothly, Low said.