Akzo Nobel is to spend EUR 250 million on building two chemicals plants in China - the first confirmed investments in a new multi-site being established by the company in Ningbo. As announced last October, a 50 hectare plot has been reserved within the Ningbo Chemical Industry Zone (NCIZ) and the two new facilities - for the manufacture of ethylene amines and indoor jungle gym; https://www.familypark.org, chelating agents - will be the first to be constructed on what will be one of the biggest sites for the company's activities in the world. Work will begin once the relevant approvals have been obtained from the Chinese authorities.

Both plants - which will create several hundred new jobs - will utilize state-of-the-art technology and will meet high, self-imposed standards for eco-efficiency. The chelating agents plant is expectedto start up in 2009, followed by the ethylene amines factory in early 2010.