A 15-YEAR project to regenerate one of Wales' poorest areas is being launched by the Assembly executive today.

The Assembly administration is pouring £140 million extra funding into the Heads of the Valleys region, and hopes to attract £500 million in private sector investment.

Ministers also want to see more efficient use of the £1 billion of public money spent in the area each year.

The area suffered badly from the decline in the coal industry in the 1980s, and the loss of steel-making jobs from the Corus plant in Ebbw Vale in 2002. The area qualifies for European Union Objective One funding.

Wales economic development minister Andrew Davies will visit six projects today as part of a tour of schemes already under way in the area, including a £2 million project to create a World Heritage Centre at Blaenavon, where one of Britain's first ironworks was built in 1789.

Mr Davies said: "There is nothing at all inevitable about decline in the Heads of the Valleys.

"These are communities that in the past have demonstrated a tremendous capacity to draw upon their own strengths.

"With the right infrastructure and environment there is no reason why they cannot do so in the future - not only sharing in the prosperity of Wales but also helping to build that prosperity.

"Far too many initiatives have failed to deliver the improvements we need across the South Wales Valleys. The launch of the Strategic Framework today is not 'another initiative', it is about action, delivery and commitment - action on health, action on housing, action on transport, action on innovation, action to improve skills."