(Yicai Global) Feb. 27 -- Beijing-based state-owned Citic Guoan Group recently partnered with the Jiashan county government in East China's Zhejiang province to invest CNY20 billion (USD3.17 billion) to build a Da Vinci science and art town. The move aims to promote scientific development. Italy's official trade and investment promotion agency ICE will take part in the project as an important partner.

Citic Guoan will make the key investment for the introduction of special industries and improvement of environment. The company will adopt a composite development model of sports and leisure, rehabilitation and medical care, fashion and creativity and culture and art, and will build China's first Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Art and Science, Accademia Italiana and a high-end commercial handmade products street.

Citic Guoan will team up with the environment institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to carry out environmental project planning, construction and operation management and apply ecology-oriented sustainable development model, build wastewater treatment works, green corridors and wetland parks. It will also set up the Internet of Things and Big Data-based smart environment management system.

ICE has worked with Citic Guoan in building an Italian handmade custom exhibition center on the Huangpu River bank in Shanghai in 2016, said Massimiliano Tremiterra, chief representative of the Italian trade and investment promotion agency in Shanghai. The Jiashan project provides a broader platform for cooperation between the two sides, he added.

Citic Guoan, a subsidiary of the state-owned Citic Group, engages in finance, resource development, cultural tourism, urban operations and health care, with total assets reaching CNY200 billion.