The New Era Mall is expected to open in April or May 2005.With a construction area of 130,000square meters,the nine-story mall,which is located at the intersection of Songhu and Xiangyin roads,will stand next to the 160,000-square-meter Dalian Wanda Commercial Plaza.

The Yangpu District Commercial Commission confirmed last month that the first Wal-Mart store will be located on the first two floors of the Dalian Wanda mall,which is also set to open in early 2005.

Standing opposite the malls are Atlantic Department Store and Hualian Department Store.Guangdong-based Macat (Group)Co Ltd will invest 1.1billion yuan to build Macat Jinyi Plaza Hotel,a complex combining a five-star hotel,office building,shopping plaza and a cinema at Wujiaochang.

But as industry watchers worry about the extensive investments in shopping malls,a board director of Shanghai Hua Lian is apparently optimistic.

"It's high time to invest in the Wujiaochang area which bodes bright prospects to be one of the city's commercial and business centers,"said Lu Yongming at the project foundation ceremony.

He was referring to eight urban construction projects in the area including the building of a sunken plaza,metro line M1,underground passages,transportation ter-minals and road expansion.

The Shanghai government decided last year to trans-form the area into one of the city's major commercial centers.

Development of the area into a major commercial center first started in 2001when Shanghai Hua Lian opened its Hualian Depart-ment Store Yangpu branch.

(eastday.com March 24, 2003)