Hongqiao Central Business District in Shanghai is well on the way to becoming a new urban center of the city, officials said yesterday.
A total of 282 buildings — 85 percent of those planned — had been topped off by the end of last year for the Hongqiao CBD with a planned area to cover 86 square kilometers, said Chen Weili, deputy director of its management committee.
Two luxury five-star hotels along with some office buildings and commercial facilities had been opened. More than 90 percent of the offices and 80 percent of the commercial areas for shopping and catering had been rented, Chen said.
Enterprises based in the CBD mainly include privately owned listed firms as well as Internet, financial and modern services companies, he added.
The city government established Hongqiao CBD in 2009 in the west part of the city. The business district extends across Minhang, Changning, Qingpu and Jiading districts.
The CBD has been positioned as a modern service industry cluster, a new international trade platform, a place to set up headquarters, trading institutions and economic organizations and an upmarket business service platform for businesses in China, according to its official website.
"The area is expected to become a new major economic growth drive of the city and the core place for the city's ambition to become an excellent global city," said Li Zhan, a professor with Jiao Tong University's Antai College of Business and Management.
It is estimated that more than 650,000 employees will work for enterprises based in the zone by the end of 2020.
To accommodate the professionals from both home and abroad, the CBD has planned superior residential communities to house foreigners as well as locals.
More than 10 international schools and the Hongqiao International Medical Zone, with seven hospitals with a total of 1,900 beds, will open their doors within five years.
A total of eight five-star hotels will provide 1,113 rooms in the CDB by 2019.
