The southern Bund area will be redeveloped beginning next year to open the area to sightseeing and leisure activities.

The project covers the area between Dongmen Road and Youchematou Road. Docks currently occupied will be emptied and connected to make room for a waterfront walkway. Old factories and warehouses will be removed or renovated to make way for bars, hotels and modern commercial buildings.

Construction on the southern Bund area, which covers 526,000 square meters with a shoreline of 2.6 kilometers, will be launched next year and the project is expected to be completed by 2015, the Huangpu District government announced yesterday.

"The southern Bund riverside area will be a new place for sightseeing and leisure in the downtown area," said Zhou Wei, director of the Huangpu District government.

Visitors will even be able to touch the water in the Huangpu River, he added.

The waterfront walkway will be only 50 centimeters above the river. The Bund Promenade is about 4 to 5 meters above the Huangpu.

Once the project is completed, people will be able to walk along the Bund from Suzhou Creek in the north to Nanpu Bridge near Youchematou Road in the south.