INWARD investment agency Locate in Kent says the construction of Dickens World provides an important boost to the growth area of the Thames Gateway.

The £60million visitor attraction to be built at Chatham Maritime will create around 200 new jobs on site and will open the doors to increased business opportunity in Kent and Medway as a result of the estimated 300,000 annual visitors the park will attract.

Paul Wookey, Locate in Kent chief executive, said: "Chatham Maritime is a key ingredient in the Thames Gateway Growth Area.

"To successfully attract the new businesses into the area necessary to fulfil the Deputy Prime Minister’s projections of 84,000 new jobs across Thames Gateway Kent, we need to have a vibrant and exciting social and economic environment.

"We have great expectations that Dickens World will provide a positive impact on both the business and lifestyle climate in Medway."

The complex, when finished in April 2007, will be one of the biggest undercover attractions in the world.

Developers Media Ventures, have incorporated a cinema multiplex and restaurants into the theme park which will contain rides recreating the sights and the smells of Dickensian England.

The finished complex will then be operated by Heritage Projects, part of the Continuum Group, and a company with longstanding Kent connections.

Heritage Projects currently operates 11 other visitor attractions in the country, including Canterbury Tales and The Jorvik Viking Centre, York.