China's SinoFortone plans to invest in UK amusement park, prawns

Chinese-backed SinoFortone Group is to invest about 5.2 billion pounds in three projects in the UK which are expected to create at least 1,000 new jobs.

SinoFortone's investment arm is committing 3.2 billion pounds to help build a Paramount Pictures theme park at Ebbsfleet, in the southeastern county of Kent, which will be finished by 2020, according to the company.

It said it is also building two power stations in Wales, near the southern steel town of Port Talbot and at Holyhead on the island of Anglesey in the northwest. The two plants will be based on biomass technology.

As a spinoff from the power projects, waste heat will be used to warm water for prawn and shellfish farming, including the first king prawns to be cultivated in the UK. The farms will be used to raise other fish, including sole, and vegetable farming is also planned.

The two power stations will be built by a UK privately held company called Orthios Eco Parks with Chinese investment.

SinoFortone has already announced it is investing 250 million pounds in The London Group to build tourism infrastructure projects.

The deals will be signed during President Xi Jinping's four-day state visit, which saw its first full day of activities today.

To contact the reporter: chris@mail.chinadailyuk.com