An Australian billionaire has announced his plans to build the next Titanic, 100 years after the sinking of the Belfast built liner.

"It is going to be designed so it won't sink," Clive Palmer, a Queensland mining billionaire told the Australian media during a press conference. "It will be designed as a modern ship with all the technology to ensure that doesn't happen.

The billionaire said construction would start of the end of next year. The cost of the construction of the new vessel has not been revealed.

"It will be every bit as luxurious as the original Titanic but of course it will have state-of-the-art 21st Century technology and the latest navigation and safety systems," he said in a statement.

Palmer told the media that his new shipping company, Blue Star Line Pty Ltd, had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese state-owned company CSC Jinling Shipyard to build Titanic II.

The new vessel is scheduled to sail from London to New York in late 2016.

"It is going to be designed so it won't sink,'' he added. ''But, of course, if you are superstitious like you are, you never know what could happen.''

The original Titanic sank 100 years ago last April 15, after it struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. More than 1,500 people perished in the disaster.