Business / Opinion

Developer from China making its mark Down Under

By Patrick Whiteley (China Daily) Updated: 2014-06-10 07:26

The expertise and experience of a Chinese property developer that is leading the way in creating a new Australian megacity is attracting industry praise and debunking China stereotypes.

In the eyes of Australian urban planners, China is no longer just the world's factory. It has become a hotbed of rising talents who are showcasing their smarts through cutting-edge buildings and landmark property developments.

Starryland Australia, a local division of Fuxing Huiyu, is behind the Promenade, one of the biggest developments in the booming city of Parramatta in western Sydney.

Parramatta has A$8 billion ($8.51billion) worth of property development in the pipeline, which is set to turn it into the fourth-largest CBD in Australia ahead of Adelaide and Perth. It is also the fastest-growing city in the nation.

Parramatta's rapid pace of development is exciting and new for the Australian public, but Starryland Australia Director Hao Liu said his company has seen this development boom before in China.

Its first major project in Australia was just the size of a normal apartment block in China.

There has been a rush of Chinese property developers and investors coming to Australia in recent years. China is the largest foreign investor in Australian residential property, with buyers spending $5 billion in the last fiscal year, according to Credit Suisse.

Sydney property agent Andrew Antonas said a majority of Chinese developers are professionals and praised the expertise they bring to the table.

"About 80 percent of the Chinese developers that are here and developing are professionals, and they're very good at what they do, and they're bringing a lot of smarts to the industry," he told Australian network Special Broadcasting Service.

Fuxing Huiyu is known for building mega-communities in Wuhan, Hubei province, where thousands of residents live in 50-floor towers.

Through years of experience, it has learned valuable lessons from its China projects and understands the pitfalls associated with large residential developments.

Starryland Australia is now sharing this knowledge in Australia and hopes to develop long-term relations with the booming city of Parramatta.

"We are looking forward to the next 10 to 20 years; we know this city's going to be the next chapter for greater Sydney. From our experience, we know it will be better and bigger in the future," Liu told SBS.

China's rapid development, especially over the past 10 years, has seen the rise of a new breed of property developer who is using the world's best practices to create new Chinese megacities.

Through trial and error, they have honed their skills in China and are now making their mark on city landscapes around the world.

Now it's not just "made in China." It's designed and planned there, too.

The writer is a Sydney-based correspondent for Xinhua News Agency. The views presented here do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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