China has been inviting bids for three categories of infrastructure construction tasks in preparation for launching an assembly plant of Airbus A320 jets in north China's largest port city of Tianjin.

A spokesman with Tianbao Engineering Consulting Co. said his company had been entrusted by Tianjin Office for Construction of Airport Logistics Processing Area to run an ad for details of the bidding.

Category one of the tasks requires construction of a temporary road and ground leveling in an area of 800,000 sq m. The temporary road will be 4 km in length and 7 m in width.

This category of the tasks will start building late this month and are expected to be completed a month later, according to the spokesman.

Category two of the tasks is to find supervisors for construction of the general assembly plant with a combined floor space of 1.1 million sq m. The general assembly plant will include the center for power supply, the hangar, workshops for paint spraying, general assemblage, and the general assemblage line.

And the construction of the general assembly plant will start construction next February.

Category three of the tasks require construction and supervision of two bridges, one pump station, and a 5-km-long path, which are also listed as infrastructure for the general assembly plant and its auxiliary businesses.

The State Development and Reform Commission made known on June 8 its approval of a new Airbus A320 assembly plant which will be located in the eastern part of the Binhai New District, Tianjin.

In accordance with a construction schedule, the new Airbus project will be finished next March. The project will be Airbus' first final-assembly line ever built outside Europe.

According to the signed agreement between China and France, the new Airbus plant in Tianjin will have designed production capacity of assembling four Airbus A320 jets a month in the first phase development and the first such plane will be delivered over in 2008.