WUHAN — Work has started on the building of a cargo airport in central China's Hubei province, designed as one of the largest air cargo hubs in the region.

The airport in Ezhou city will primarily serve delivery companies. Industry leader SF Express was the first to move in. The hub's first eight projects - including power supply, sewage treatment and resettlement housing - with a combined cost of 18 billion yuan ($2.7 billion) broke new ground Wednesday, the local government said.

Ezhou is located in China's central region, from which the country's major cities can be reached by air in less than one-and-a-half hours.

The government of Ezhou said the hub was expected to handle 2.45 million metric tons of cargo annually by 2025 and 7.65 million tons by 2045.