Australia set for China's $635m Forbidden City theme park

SYDNEY (AFP) - A China theme park in Australia featuring a full-size replica of gates to the Forbidden City and a nine-storey temple could rival the Sydney Opera House as a tourist drawcard, officials said Monday.

The planned A$500 million (S$635 million) attraction moved a step closer after Wyong Shire Council in New South Wales signed a deal on Sunday to sell 15.7 hectares of land to the company behind the proposal.

Construction of the seven-sectioned theme park 80 kilometres north of Sydney is set to begin in 2015 and be finished by 2020.

On completion it is expected to employ more than 1,000 people.