GUANGZHOU: A provincial land and natural resources official has promised to offer enough land to foreign investors if they want to set up their production facilities in Guangdong.

The new and high-tech projects to be funded by overseas investors will be guaranteed land use rights, the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Land Natural Resources official said, but refused to be named.

His remarks came after the South China province shut down 411 industrial development belts (IDBs) following the central government's nationwide campaign in 2003 to put such belts' development in order.

Guangdong today has only 92 registered IDBs, down from its peak of 503, which then used to be the highest in the country.

Among the functioning IDBs, 23 are State-level and 69, provincial-level, which needless to say have been playing a big role in the province's economic development.

The IDBs closed down were spread over 238,199 hectares, 4,736 of which have now either returned to agricultural use or have undergone reforestation.

The shutting down of so many IDBs is likely to be worrying for overseas investors, forcing them to think Guangdong may not have enough land for industrial development and may even tighten its policies further on investments from abroad.

But the provincial official has assured such investors that closing down of the IDBs would not come in the way of Guangdong's efforts to increase overseas investment.

Guangdong that usually attracts little investment from the central government relies a lot on overseas investors to support its rapid economic growth, he said.

"Besides, the shutting down of IDBs would have little effect on Hong Kong's industrial transfers to Guangdong Province.

"Hong Kong investors who want to move their production facilities to Guangdong will be guaranteed enough land if their companies meet the State's and the province's relevant requirements," the official said.

Guangdong's goal to become a world factory will never change, he said.

The provincial government especially hopes to be able to attract more heavyweight offshore companies to set up new and high-tech production facilities that will cause little pollution in Guangdong Province, one of the country's economic powerhouses.

Priority will be accorded to firms involved in electronics, IT, new materials, biological engineering, telecommunication equipment, software, tourism, logistics and services.

Guangdong that borders Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions had taken the lead among mainland provinces and municipalities in setting up IDBs. Overseas investments in these IDBs helped the province grow at blazing pace after the country opened up to the outside world in late 1970s.

But after the central government's campaign, Guangdong began a province-wide and thorough inspection of such industrial belts. The result: many small-scale IDBs that used to make little profit but occupied precious agricultural plots or land that could be reforested were ordered to close down.