International Media Street, located in Beijing's Xuanwu District, is expected to be completed within five years and has been designed to operate as a hub for various media and related enterprises from home and abroad.

Ding Li, director with the Development Planning Committee of Xuanwu District, said that the street will be 3.2 kilometers long and total investment is estimated at 28 billion yuan (US$3.37 billion).

"The street is likely to be attractive to journalism, publication, audio and video, Internet, exhibition and entertainment firms which are engaged in or have relations with the media industry," Ding said.

A mix of companies from the international media, modern commerce, service and financial sectors will be concentrated on the street upon its completion.

According to the general design of the street, the majority of the buildings will be digitized, with buildings covering a total area of 4 million square meters.

Some 2.57 million square meters will be reserved for public buildings, which include office and commerce buildings as well as hotels.

The remaining 1.43 million square meters will be used for residential communities.

Ding said that development of the street is in line with market principles and the 28 billion yuan (US$3.37 billion) investment is being raised via three channels: fiscal investment, capital from real estate developers and bank loans.

"The fiscal investment is derived from the Old and Dangerous Houses Renovation Fund, which is used for the resettlement of residents," Ding said.

Bid invitations for various buildings have been held, with more to follow, and some media and related enterprises have opted to develop their own office buildings on the street.

"But, the prerequisite is that their design must be strictly in accordance with the general scheme formulated by the district government and approved by the municipal government," said Ding.

Speaking of the street's prospects, Ding pointed out that the street boasts a series of advantages that are attractive to domestic and foreign media and related operators

Located two kilometers from Tian'anmen Square, the street will intersect with Guang'an Street and run by the Liulichang Culture Industry Park -- an area with over 1,000 years of history and noted for its traditional Chinese curiosity and relic stores.

"Most media enterprises will consider the geographic elements and prefer the rich cultural atmosphere," Ding said.

Moreover, the design of the offices in the street will meet the requirements of media companies and having related firms gathered on one street will be convenient.

According to Ye Jiazheng, professor at the Beijing Radio Broadcasting Institute, since Beijing is a hub for domestic and foreign media institutions and boasts rich cultural, information and technology resources, it is necessary and will be beneficial for the city to build such a professional street.

"After China's accession to the World Trade Organization, the entry of foreign players and the flood of competitors will increase the demand for office space and quality of such work environments, which provides huge market potential for developers of the International Media Street," Ye said.

According to official statistics, by the end of last year, there were more than 2,000 newspapers and 6,000 magazines in the country.

So far, more than 500 large and medium-sized television stations offer more than 3,000 channels to the Chinese audience, which numbers 1.1 billion.

"During last year, the advertisement revenue for the various media institutions in Beijing reached 71.2 billion yuan (US$8.58 billion), which implies huge market potential for media consumption and a prosperous future for the media industry," Ye added.

However, some experts and insiders are not so optimistic about the street's outlook.

"There are so many specific areas in Beijing to date, including the Central Business District, the Asian Games Village, Zhonguancun Science and Technology Park and the Financial Street, I do not think there will be enough client resources for the new street," a researcher with the Policy Study Office of the Beijing municipal government said.

Moreover, large-sized media enterprises have already set up their bases, and the medium and small-sized ones are facing mergers, acquisitions and reorganization, and thus may feel that locating to the street is unnecessary or beyond their means.

Furthermore, taking the specific characteristics of the media industry into account, concentration of similar firms might not be considered an advantage.

The researcher suggested the designers and developers pay attention to offering specific services to lure clients and guarantee the survival of the street.

(China Daily March 29, 2002)