Taizhou, a city in East China's Zhejiang province, witnessed a year-on-year increase of 61.1 percent in actual use of foreign investment in the first half of this year to $65 million, according to the local municipal bureau of commerce.

From January to June, Taizhou approved the establishment of 23 foreign-invested companies with a total contractual investment of $274 million, a 184.9 percent year-on-year increase.

Among them, 10 are worth more than $10 million, and there are eight high-tech companies with a total actual foreign investment of $37.79 million.

This rapid increase was largely attributed to increased investment from existing foreign-invested companies in the city.

For example, a solid waste disposal company secured $16.7 million in foreign investment in February alone.

Foreign investment concentrated mainly on the manufacturing industry. Of the 23 projects, eight are manufacturing projects with a total actual foreign investment of $32.61 million.

Asia was the main source of foreign investment in the city. Sixteen of the 23 foreign-invested projects received investment from Asian companies and have a total actual foreign investment of $64.7 million.