The Aba Aluminum Factory, the largest enterprise in Wenchuan County, the epicenter of the massive May 12 earthquake, restarted production on a larger scale on Friday in China's southwestern province of Sichuan.

Chen Guoyou, the factory manager, said annual capacity was scheduled to expand from 20,000 tons to 110,000 tons on May 13, but the 8.0-magnitude quake struck a day earlier, severely damaging the production lines.

"From now on, the factory will be able to produce 110,000 tons of aluminum annually and we plan to expand the capacity to 200,000 tons next year," Chen said.

The rebuilding of the factory was listed in the post-Wenchuan quake reconstruction plan by the State Council, said Gu Yunlong, head of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Aba Prefecture. "With 850 workers, its reopening would boost public confidence in quake-zone reconstruction."

Gu said about 55 percent of the companies in Aba Prefecture have resumed operation in the seven months since the quake.

"As problems of communication, roads and energy are solved, all are scheduled to resume operation by March," he said.

The quake left more than 69,000 people dead, 374,000 injured, 18,000 missing and millions homeless. China plans to spend three years on the preliminary reconstruction and another five years on developing the quake-hit region.

(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2008)