Work on the park along the Huangpu River in Pudong is expected to get under way next year and it is scheduled for completion in 2006.

On Saturday, Vivendi, property company Shanghai Waigaoqiao Group Co. and hotel operator Shanghai Jin Jiang Holdings Co. Ltd. signed a joint venture agreement to create the park.

However, the investors declined to comment on industry speculations that the project will cost US$870 million and that Vivendi will own a one-third share.

"To qualify as a Sino-foreign joint venture, according to Chinese regulations, Vivendi should have at least a 25 percent stake in the theme park," said Glenn Gumpel, president of international business affairs at Universal Parks & Resorts, the park's operator.

Located in Pudong's rural Sanlin area and a few miles from the 2010 World Expo site, the park will cover 225 hectares.

Some 8 million visitors are expected to visit during its first year in operation.

Hu Wei, deputy secretary general of Shanghai municipal government, said Shanghai Universal Studios Theme Park will create 10,000 job opportunities and provide some 100,000 vacancies in industries such as tourism, lodging, transportation and dining.

"We will involve Chinese features in the entertainment facilities, which are normally American-style, in the Shanghai park" said Gumpel. "And the pricing will be in line with average consumer-level prices in China."

The park will feature classic Hollywood film themes, such as Jurassic Park and E.T.

Vivendi runs five theme parks in the United States, Japan and Spain. Among them, the Orlando theme park has received more than 100 million visitors since its opening in 1990.

Japan's Osaka theme park, opened in March 2001, is the company's first theme park outside the United States.

The Shanghai announcement comes as Vivendi is trying every means, including selling assets, to turn the company around financially. Its shares have fallen 74 percent this year.

Meanwhile, the Walt Disney Co., which is building a US$3.1 billion theme park in Hong Kong, said that it will "continue to look throughout China for theme park opportunities," according to Irene Chan, regional director of Walt Disney Asia-Pacific Co.'s corporate communications department.

Disney is reportedly in talks with local authorities to build a Disney-land in Pudong, which would put the two parks only a few miles apart.

(eastday.com December 9, 2002)