During the booming development of the marine economy in coastal regions, Qingdao, a coastal city in Shandong, is taking a lead with the "Blue Silicon Valley" speeding up construction this year.

Within this year, the Qingdao government planned to start construction of 18 key programs, including the National Deep Sea Center, the Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology and the Qingdao campus of Shandong University.

Li Naisheng, deputy director of the Department of Science and Technology of Shandong province, said these programs will help Qingdao become an example for the country's coastal cities.

The Blue Silicon Valley is about 576 square kilometers, lying from Laoshan district to Jimo county in the north of Qingdao to facilitate oceanographic research and other high-technology development as well as commercial applications for the marine sector. It includes about 33 major projects with a total investment expected to pass 22 billion yuan ($3.6 billion).

Along with the Blue Silicon Valley, Qingdao also mapped out the West Coast New Economic Zone and the Hongdao Economic Zone to boost the city's marine economy.

According to the Qingdao government, a total of 140 key marine projects will start construction with about 160 billion yuan invested.

Li Qun, Party chief of Qingdao, said the blue economy will lead the city to adjust its development mode and upgrade its industrial structure.

Besides the ambitious target of the city's marine economy, he also emphasized the marine environment protection to "leave the best sustainable resources to our offspring".

Xinhua News Agency reported on June 2 that Shandong will set up a system to strictly control the effect of human activities to curb land reclamation and marine pollution.

In the first quarter this year, the output of marine sectors reached 25 billion yuan in Qingdao, an increase of 13.4 percent year-on-year, according to authorities' statistics.