SHANGHAI: Visitors to the Bund are often impressed by the colonial promenades and futuristic Lujiazui skyline on both sides of the Huangpu River. In a few years' time, however, development north of the Bund may be catching the eye as well.
Under a development plan revealed by authorities in Hongkou district this week, North Bund will join the Bund and Lujiazui to form a triangle-shaped central business district.
The 3.66-sq-km area will comprise four zones, with office blocks, international cruise ship terminals, shipping, trade and residential buildings.
To link the North Bund more closely with Lujiazui the municipal government intends to build another tunnel to connect. This is in addition to the Xinjian Road tunnel now under construction.
Chen Qiongchan, from the Shanghai North Bund Development Company, said most projects along the Huangpu River would be completed by 2010, when Shanghai hosts the World Expo.
The White Magnolia Plaza, a 61-story, 300-m building, is expected to be a landmark. Hyatt on the Bund, a 361-room hotel, opened for trial operations two months ago.
A terminal has already started operations in North Bund, initially accommodating between 20 to 30 international cruise ships a year.
A 200-m Ferris wheel, bigger than the London Eye, was planned for the area but the municipal government vetoed it two years ago as a "vanity project".
Even so, the North Bund has become one of the most expensive places in the city.
Not long ago, a 170-sq-m apartment with a good view was around 21.88 million yuan ($3 million).
The average price is now a record 128,000 yuan per square meter.
While more modern tower blocks are expected to be developed in the North Bund, the Jewish Ghetto area, where tens of thousands of Jews sought asylum in the 1930s and 40s, will largely remain a major tourist attraction.
Ruan Yishan, a professor at Tongji University, said more of the existing buildings in the Jewish Ghetto area should be preserved.
"The North Bund should be an extension of the Bund and it won't work with too many high-rises," Ruan said.
Redevelopment of the North Bund, an area full of dilapidated warehouses, docks and residential complexes, started around 2002.
For more than a century the North Bund, which extends about 2.3 km along the Huangpu River, has been a hub for shipping.
It is still the home of the Shanghai Shipping Exchange and more than 2,000 shipping agencies. The British East India Company started to build wharves in the area as early as 1845, after Shanghai was forced to open as a treaty port.
Source: China Daily
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