CHINA'S resource-rich Guizhou Province has signed contracts worth nearly 300 billion yuan (US$45 billion) with state-owned companies as the government aims to spur economic growth in the inland province.

Companies, including Sinopec Group, Aluminum Corp of China and China Railway Group, signed 47 contracts with the Guizhou government on Sunday in Beijing. They will invest a total of 292.9 billion yuan in a wide range of industries from mining to power and tourism in the southwestern province.

Sinopec has agreed to invest 52 billion yuan to build a coal-power-petrochemical complex in Guizhou.

All the projects are slated to start next year and in 2012, according to a statement on the website of the Guizhou government yesterday.

China is encouraging investment in the central and western regions as it tries to narrow the income gap between poorer regions and coastal areas as well as promote domestic consumption.