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A Chinese-Swedish tunnel construction joint venture was set up recently aiming to grab business opportunities brought by subway construction in Beijing.

The new company, established by the Beijing Zhuzong Group Corp.and Gammon Skanska Co. Ltd. of Sweden, will bid for the construction of the No. 4 and No. 10 lines of the Beijing subway system next year.

Lian Lian, Zhuzong's board chair, said that his company will pour 60 million yuan (7.3 million U.S. dollars) into the new joint venture while the Swedish counterpart will inject 50 million yuan (6 million U.S. dollars).

Officials with Gammon Skanska said their investment will be mainly used to purchase shield-driven tunneling technology and equipment, and the new joint venture will surely become a competitive participant in the subway construction business.

The shield-driven tunneling technology to be used for Beijing subway construction is widely proven as an efficient and secure method in underground construction to avoid affecting above-ground buildings, and is also capable of reducing removal work and protecting underground water resources during construction.

Beijing has about 54 km of subway in operation and plans to invest 10 billion yuan (1.2 billion U.S. dollars) each year into adding a total of 300 kilometers before 2008, when it hosts the summer Olympic Games.