Iron, steel and petrochemical projects to transform port city, Li Wenfang reports.

Eight projects related to the giant iron and steel complex on Donghai Island in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, launched recently, with 42 more expected to follow from this month.

The 1.729 billion yuan ($282.56 million) from the eight projects is just part of the huge investment boost received by the port city of Zhanjiang for the construction of mammoth steel and petrochemical projects.

The first blast furnace of the steel plant on Donghai Island, owned by the country's leading steel maker Baosteel Group, is scheduled to go into operation in September next year, said mayor Wang Zhongbing.

When complete the facility will have an annual capacity of 9.2 million tons of iron and 10 million tons of steel. It will focus on the South China and Southeast Asia markets in industries including automobiles, home appliances, construction, shipbuilding and machinery.

The petrochemical joint venture between Sinopec and Kuwait Petroleum Corp will include a refinery to process 15 million tons of crude oil a year and an ethylene facility with an annual output of 800,000 tons. Operation of the refinery is due to start in 2016 and the ethylene plant will go online in 2017.

The facility is the largest Sino-foreign petrochemical project to be built on the Chinese mainland.

The first phase of Guangdong Guanhao High-Tech Co's 7.6 billon yuan paper plant went into trial operation on Donghai Island in June.