Disneyland Shanghai starts up
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Walt Disney Co. will break ground on its long-anticipated theme park and resort in Shanghai Friday, according to the deputy director of Pudong New Area, after years of negotiations with the central government.
"The 24.5 billion-yuan investment ($3.74 billion) for the Disneyland theme park will inject financial incentives to transform Shanghai's economic development mode," said Dai Haibo, "and the energy the project brings along will have an immediate effect on the district's development."
Dai told the Global Times that tourism and services industries would be the two major beneficiaries of the planned 3.9-square-kilometer theme park, to be located in the northeast corner of the city.
He said the investment commitments and final approval from the central government would shortly be announced. Disney's stake in the project hasn't yet been disclosed. And the Disney theme park is expected to be completed by 2015, Dai said.
The start of construction marks a milestone in a five-year process involving negotiations with city and central government officials. April 8 marks the end of the public consultation on the International Tourism Resort, where the theme park will be located.
Disney has organized a "special" event for Friday, along with its main local partner, the government-owned Shanghai Shendi Group, and the Administrative Commission of Shanghai International Tourism and Resorts Zone, according to a tourism bureau official who wasn't authorized to speak publicly.
City Mayor Han Zheng, Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger and Parks & Resorts Chairman Thomas Staggs will attend, he said.
Professor Zheng Shiling, a prominent scholar at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times the start of construction at Shanghai's Disneyland would clarify the development of the city's suburban area.
"The site of Disneyland (in Chuansha, Pudong New Area) was once a candidate for where the Expo 2010 would be," said Zheng. "The area has long waited for such incentives of rapid development."
Metro line 2 and 11 will link the city's downtown to the theme park. Zheng added that the construction of Disneyland would balance the development between Lujiazui and Chuansha in Pudong New Area. More than 2,000 households and 300 companies were relocated to make way for the theme park project.
According to the blueprint released by Pudong New Area Planning and Land Authority, the site is expected to include a theme park, two hotels, a retail-and-dining complex and a lake.
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