China recently became the world's eighth largest construction service exporter, accounting for 3.4 per cent of the world's construction services market.

From 2000 to 2005, the nation's construction service export value increased from US$600 million to US$2.59 billion, marking an annual growth rate of 34 per cent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, China's construction service import value increased from US$990 million to US$1.62 billion, marking an annual growth rate of 10.4 per cent.

By the end of 2005, China's construction industry embarked on 3,098 projects with foreign direct investment, amounting to US$15.432 billion.

The total revenue of the nation's construction industry is estimated to reach over 9 trillion yuan (US$1.15 trillion) by the year 2010, according to industry forecast.

The government is increasingly encouraging Chinese construction project contractors to venture overseas.

With the advantage of competitive prices for labour, Chinese companies have penned a number of construction deals abroad.