A comprehensive bonded area in Harbin, Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, is under review by the General Administration of Customs, which is a key progress for its approval procedures.

The news was given by the city’s commerce bureau on Jan 12.

After the joint review by the country’s ten ministries and commissions, which started from last year’s Dec 25, a new comprehensive bonded area will be set up in the city’s Xiangfang district.

Located in Harbin Export Processing Zone with Russia, next to a container logistics center of Harbin Railway, the bonded zone has a planning area of about 3.3 square kilometers. It will serve to promote China-Russia trade upon its completion together with the city’s inland port and the logistics center.

At present, the city has made preferential policies on bringing in investment projects for the area ahead of the official national approval of the comprehensive bonded area.

Up to now, a total of eight projects have signed contracts to settle in the zone, including five bonded processing projects and three bonded logistics projects, ranging from aviation to equipment manufacturing.

With a total investment of about $1.78 billion, these projects take up about 2.31 square kilometers and will employ 4,450 people. Some experts predict that if the approval goes smoothly, the Harbin Comprehensive Bonded Area will start the operation at the end of the year.