Authorities have frozen more than 1 billion yuan ($147 million) in assets during this city's crackdown on gangsters, local government spokesman Wen Tianping told China Daily.

Wen did not disclose the exact number of companies involved in the crackdown but stressed that the scale was too limited to affect the local economy.

The government has "drawn a clear dividing line" between the suspects involved in gang-like crimes and their legitimate economic behavior, and the latter has been strictly protected during and after the trials, he told China Daily.

Wen said the city's GDP growth rate is expected to hit 14.5 percent this year despite the impact of the global financial crisis.

Chongqing has benefited from the industrial transfer from eastern coastal cities.

It attracted more than 1,000 domestic projects in 2009, with investment of about 90 billion yuan.

Total foreign direct investment in the city is expected to be about $3.5 billion this year, compared with last year's $2.7 billion, a local trade official said.

After wiping out the "cancer" of gang- crimes, Chongqing will achieve a more healthy social and economic development to ensure safety for investors, Wen said.

He stressed that it was a misunderstanding for people outside Chongqing municipality to believe gangsters are overwhelming the city as local residents' safety index had been above 90 percent in the past three years.

Pu Yongjian, a professor at the Sustainable Development Research Institute at Chongqing University, said the interests of private businessmen, especially those upright ones, were damaged by the existence of gangs.

The gangs used to demand payment of debts by violence, monopolized bidding projects and asked for protection money, Pu said.

The crackdown on gangsters and their criminal activities provided a healthy environment for the development of private enterprises, he said.