Construction of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo site officially
started on Saturday, a symbolic moment as the city bids to turn the
multi-billion dollar project into a spectacular reality.
The first batch of construction includes 11 roads that will
connect the venue with the rest of the city and provide a valuable
addition to the city's overall infrastructure capacity upon
completion next year.
According to the plan, 30 roads will be built or expanded for
the fair, 18 of which will be located in Pudong and the rest in
Puxi.
Vice-Mayor Yang Xiong attended the opening ceremony for expo
venue construction and called the whole project a "complicated and
systematic" task.
He also revealed that 65 countries and international
organizations had confirmed their participation so far, with three
more registering last week.
Construction of the 5.28-square-kilometre site near the Huangpu
River in Pudong is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2009,
with a budget of 30 billion yuan (US$3.62 billion). However, Xinhua
News Agency previously reported the budget could be as high as
300-400 billion yuan (US$36-48 billion), as the original budget
only covers construction of the site itself.
According to Shanghai World Expo Land Holding Corporation, the
main infrastructure construction operator, the entire project will
involve nearly all kinds of urban construction, such as
landscaping, underground work and flood prevention facilities.
Four subways will pass through the site, all of which are under
construction. They are expected to help carry half of the
anticipated 70 million visitors.
Construction of exhibition pavilions for the 200 participants is
expected to start in the first half of next year.
Organizers said they would come up with the design of the Theme
Pavilion and the Chinese Pavilion at the end of this year.
The city has undertaken its largest ever relocation project
because of the expo. It is estimated that 54,000 individuals and
272 enterprises will have been relocated for the expo.
According to organizers, about 30 per cent of the land has
already been vacated and flattened.
(China Daily August 21, 2006)