CENTRAL China's Yichang city in Hubei province plans to invest CNY8.2 billion (US$1.29 billion) in port and shipping construction in next four years to shape itself as a shipping hub city based at the Three Gorges, reports Xinhua.

The construction programmes include building 21 ports along the Yangtze River like cross-dam interchange port, industrial output port, tourism port, gateway port for the west, and revamping 45 kilometres of shipping lane.

The city's channel of standard level will reach over 600 kilometres by 2015 with a port throughput over 100 million tonnes. The city will also build six expressways surrounding the Three Gorges to support the shipping network.