Shanghai will invest US$ 2.17 billion in an ambitious plan to build the century-old Nanjing Road into a first-class commercial destination.
The current remodeling of Nanjing Road in downtown Shanghai, the so-called No. 1 shopping street on the Chinese mainland, has aroused interest from many world-famous enterprises.
Executives officers from 28 top multinationals such as AOL Time Warner, Louis Vuitton and Nike, gathered at a two-day Nanjing Road International Forum that started Wednesday to seek investment opportunities and to share each other's experience.
Thursday's China Daily quoted Xu Jianguo, governor of Huangpu District, where Nanjing Road is, as saying that the project is scheduled to be completed by 2005. He said that that they hope within ten years, the street will be built into a leading world-class commercial destination, like the Champs Elysees in Paris and Fifth Avenue in New York.
Of the US$ 2.17 billion to be invested, only a small section of the infrastructure is being paid by the government.
The rest will be generated from outside investors, officials said.
"Nanjing Road won't be turned into an expensive consumption district like Ginza in Tokyo," Xu said. "It will maintain character: to serve all the People."
(Xinhua News Agency November 22, 2001)
