Economy

Beijing underground street development has big potential

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-02 16:32

OSAKA - There is big room for Beijing to develop underground shopping center and the underground street will bring great business opportunities, said Shigetaka Sato, chairman of the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) in an interview with Xinhua correspondent on Thursday.

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Sato, together with his delegation, visited Beijing from May 18 to 20 and exchanged opinions with Gou Zhongwen, vice mayor of Beijing, Yang Liuyin, secretary of Dongcheng District on the development of underground street. He also made an on-the-spot investigation of the situation in the development of underground street.

According to Sato, developing underground streets will improve the effective use of the land and ease congestion on the ground.

Sato said that underground street development requires a lot experiences and technologies, including the government's urban planning, regulation and standard, architectural technology, disaster management, attracting investment, management of the stores, etc. The government of Osaka and private companies have accumulated rich experiences in developing the underground streets and the underground shopping malls in Osaka are the first-class in the world.

Sato also said that in the future, Osaka is willing to cooperate with other Chinese cities such as Shanghai in the development of underground streets.

"The cooperation with Chinese companies to achieve development in both countries, or investment of Chinese companies in Osaka are increasing", said Sato.