Cruise control brings Bund closer to tourists

By Miao Qing (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-07-27 16:52

It remained home to many shabby old buildings and factories, and was plagued by poor infrastructure.

"The redevelopment of the North Bund area also involves a renovation of the old city," Du said. "More than half of the projects involved in the redevelopment are infrastructure upgrades, including two transformer substations."

Project outline

Construction on the redevelopment projects started in 2004 after thousands of residents had been relocated. The projects are expected to take more than a decade to complete.

According to Du, about 20 projects on the banks of the Huangpu will be completed by 2009 in time for the World Expo in 2010. The Shanghai Port International Passenger Terminal  which the government describes as "a project in line with the image of Shanghai as a global metropolis"  will be one of them.

The 130,000-square-metre terminal, scheduled for completion next year, is expected to be fully operational in 2008.

It will comprise an 880-metre-long wharf that will be able to berth three international passenger liners of 70,000 to 80,000 tons. The terminal building is reportedly designed to the standard of airport terminals, able to accommodate large passenger flows.

What's more the building itself, a glass hemisphere in the shape of an irregular ellipse, is expected to become a new architectural landmark of the city.

Surrounding the new terminal will be office buildings, hotels and other supporting facilities, including entertainment, shopping and dining venues.

A green open space will extend 1.8 kilometres along the north bank of the river. To make more room for this, designers have arranged many facilities underground or in what they call "semi-basement" areas. In fact, the underground space of the new terminal amounts to 245,000 square metres, compared with 165,000 square metres of surface area.

1

2

3

4

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)