The Silk Road Economic Belt Tourist Distribution Center, located in Toutunhe district at the Urumqi Economic and Technological Development Zone (UETD) in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region began construction on Feb. 26. The Tourist Distribution Center is one of the projects of high-speed rail zone construction.

According to Zhang Jian, deputy project manager of the High-speed Rail Development Company, the Tourist Distribution Center covers an area of 24,000 sq m and has an overall floor space of 140,000 square meters. The 1 billion yuan ($160 million) center is designed to be a multi-functional area, providing tourist distribution services, tourism logistics and commercial services.

There were 22 projects under construction in 2014, with a construction output value reaching 2.29 billion yuan. Five sections of the project, including the underground area of north square, were constructed throughout the winter season to speed up the process. In addition to the 22 main projects, a service center, landscape lighting and other projects are planned for 2015, which total an investment of around 1.57 billion yuan.

According to Xiong Binhui, project manager of the High-speed Rail Development Company, it is predicted that the north square of the zone and the newly-built station will be put into use simultaneously by October 1. At which time, construction work on the south square will commence.