The proposed relocation of some of the city's oldest factories
to allow redevelopment of the 2010 World Expo site will modernize
and boost their outdated production capabilities, planners
predict.
The 140-year-old Jiangnan Shipyard, the oldest existing
shipbuilder in China, will be moved from the Huangpu River site to
a site earmarked to become the largest shipbuilding base in the
world on Changxing Island, on the mouth of Yangtze River.
The 100-year-old Shanghai Pudong Steel Corporation on the
eastern bank of the Huangpu River will carry out ambitious
expansion plans in Luojing, closer to its parent company the
Baosteel Group.
However, some of the factory's existing buildings, such as the
workshops, will be retained on the expo site and converted into
exhibition and recreational facilities during the next three
years.
A steel-making workshop of the Pudong steel factory will be
renovated into a theater and after the Expo, it will be used mainly
for community entertainment. Another electric furnace workshop will
become an exhibition pavilion.
An old workshop of the Jiangnan Shipyard, located in Puxi, will
be rebuilt into corporate pavilions and an industry-themed
museum.
"To host the fair means a new development opportunity for these
enterprises," Zhong Yanqun, standing deputy director of the World
Expo 2010 Shanghai Executive Committee, said.
"On the other hand, these factories and a history they marked of
Shanghai's early industrial growth could be remembered here because
some of their buildings will be retained."
Jin Qing, a senior manager of Shanghai Pudong Steel Corporation
said the Luojing project would be finished in two phases over five
years. The steel factory will be moved to Luojing by the end of
this year when its first phase is completed.
After relocating, production capacity is expected to more than
double to 10 million tons of steel and iron products by 2012.
"We will introduce the world's most advanced steel-making
facilities and technology in the new factory to optimize the
diversity of our products and improve their quality," Jin said.
The Jiangnan Shipyard's size will double when it moves to
Changxing, and by 2010 it will have an annual production capacity
of 4.5 million deadweight tons.
Shanghai Port Machine Plant, another enterprise to be relocated
to the Changxing Island because of the expo, has already built new
docks and gantry cranes along the shore and has commenced
operations. It expects to gain an annual production value of 6
billion yuan (US$775 million), three times its current
earnings.
Zhu Ronglin, an economics professor from East China Normal
University said the relocation of Shanghai's old factories was in
line with the city's vision to move the manufacturing industry out
of the inner city and attract more service industries.
"Meanwhile, the balance between different land values and the
compensation that has been offered to them a good chance to update
its facilities and technologies," he said.
Wu Zhiqiang, chief designer of the expo site and dean of
Architecture and Urban Planning School of the Tongji University
said about one fifth area of the expo site would have retained
factory buildings.
(China Daily March 20, 2007)