The airpark is designed to state in Dingshu town, Wuxi to develop general aviation industry. [Photo/lyunx.com]

Dingshu town in Wuxi will build an industrial park for the general aviation industry with an investment of 1.2 billion yuan ($180 million), the local government has announced.

The first stage of the project, which has been dubbed the Airpark, includes plans to construct an aviation museum, exhibition hall, seaplane terminal and several other facilities, which are designed to foster an aviation tourism and exhibition industry in Dingshu.

Three enterprises and five other projects have already announced their intention to open up facilities inside the Airpark.

The project is designed to provide a new source of economic growth for the town, which up to now has relied mainly on its ceramics industry to generate income.

The region around Dingshu is famous across China for its purple clay pottery and the town has been named one of the country's 127 "characteristic towns" because of its association with this distinctive ceramics style.

However, Dingshu's purple clay resources are becoming depleted and the town needs to find new industries to replace this shrinking revenue stream.

Wuxi has established a 5 billion yuan fund for equity investment in general aviation, with the aim of helping the local aviation industry achieve lift-off.

According to Wuxi's vice-mayor, Wang Jinjian, aviation is a good fit for the city's economy.

"General aviation industry has a long industry chain and strong motivation, which makes it a typical sunrise industry," said Wang.

The Airpark is not the first aviation project launched in Dingshu. The town has become home to several general aviation facilities since 2015.

Dornier Seawings has invested $298 million to build plants for its plane manufacturing project in the airpark.