A ceremony was held Saturday for ground-breaking on the construction of a hi-tech science park on Jeju Island.

The envisaged park, which is part of the island's efforts to raise its international profile, is being constructed on a 1.1 million square meter site at the base of Mt. Halla. It will accommodate research facilities for information technology and biotechnology, and education institutions from home and abroad by 2011.

Construction and Transportation Minister Choo Byung-jik and Jeju Gov. Kim Tae-hwan attended the Saturday ceremony.

According to the Jeju Free International City Development Center (JDC), a government task force for the project, 61 companies have already applied to set up shop at the future complex.

The center will inject 400.1 billion won into the project over the coming six years.