Money

Beijing plans financial project in Shijingshan

By Cui Xiaohuo and Wang Sujuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-01 07:50

The capital is incorporating a new financial hub in west Beijing later this year as part of the capital's latest bid to attract foreign directed investment into the money-hungry capital.

The multi-billion-yuan financial hub project will probably start as early as this October in Shijingshan district at the west end of capital, or 16 km west of Tian'anmen Square in central Beijing, the local government announced on Tuesday.

When completed, the new zone will form a business center symmetrical to the central business district near Guomao in east Beijing.

The centerpiece will be a 1-billion-yuan convention complex - the Financial Cube - expected to be completed in the next two years, officials from the Shijingshan district government said.

The venue, with a similar look to the Beijing Olympic showpiece the Water Cube, is set to become the largest complex for meetings in the capital with about 5,000 seats, second only to the Great Hall of the People, officials added.

The cost of the proposed showpiece was not revealed.

An official with the investment planning authority of the district told METRO the government is still in pursuit of a partner in building the iconic complex.

"Land exploitation has yet to begin. The authority will accept bids for the land before an owner is chosen. But the project is expected to start in October, so the authority has six months decide," the official said, on condition of anonymity.

Under the proceedings of the Beijing municipal government, such a project usually takes from several months to one year to get the nod from the municipal government.

It took the municipal government more than one year to approve the 10 billion yuan expansion of the CBD area near Guomao.

According to the official website of Shijingshan's economic planning authority the financial hub project was still under revision as of November last year.

The 550,000 populated Shijingshan district had previously been viewed as an industrial hub in west Beijing. But the relocation of the 70,000 employee Shougang from the region to neighboring Hebei province has made available 9 square kilometers of land for redevelopment.

The land equals to two CBD areas in east Beijing.

"Considering the redesign and the construction, we can expect a big change in the area over the next 10 years," Zhou Maofei, director of the Shijingshan district government, told reporters earlier.