World Expo to cost more than bidding estimate
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-09-22 10:54

Investment in the construction of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo will total 30 billion yuan (US$3.62 billion) -- 5 billion yuan (US$602 million) more than the amount China planned during bidding.

The new cost was disclosed by Dai Liu, deputy head of the Administration for Coordination over Shanghai World Expo Affairs, Tuesday. He made the announcement while briefing Hong Kong industry and business people attending a Shanghai-HK cooperation round-table meeting about World Expo preparations.

According to Dai, 10 billion yuan (US$1.21 billion) will pay for the construction of the exhibition halls with the combined floor space totaling 800,000 sq m. The remaining 20 billion yuan (US$2.41 billion) will be spent in development of venues for World Expo parks.

"Investment and fund-raising for the World Expo will strictly follow the principle of the government playing a dominant role, operation according to norms of the market," said Dai.

He vowed that he will try to attract international and private investment in order to diversify investment sources.

Construction of the venues for World Expo parks requires the relocation of 300 institutions and 17,000 residents, and the land reclamation will be finished by 2007. The investment in this aspect will be recovered from new rounds of land development after the World Expo ends.

In the meantime, building of the exhibition halls is expected to be completed between 2008 and early 2010, and the investment in this regard will be retrieved through channels including sales of World Expo tickets, cooperation of brands, rent of exhibition halls.

The increase in the investment was caused by an expansion in area for the World Expo, said Dai.

In accordance with the adjusted plan, the area for the event has increased to 5.28 sq km. Now many dilapidated residential quarters outside the originally planned World Expo area will be included.

The Shanghai World Expo Bureau has been organizing experts to assess the overall designs proposed by a dozen Chinese and overseas design companies. The results will be released late this year.

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