Consensus on major aspects of building "an important tourism project" in Shanghai's Pudong New Area has been reached, but it still requires central government approval, newly elected officials said yesterday.

The project's investment could reach tens of billions of yuan which will be one of the driving forces for Pudong's development, according to Jiang Liang, the area's new governor.

"The city government values the project very much," said Liu Zhengyi, the only female vice governor of the Pudong New Area, merged with former Nanhui District, without elaborating details of the project.

According to media reports citing Mayor Han Zheng's speech in a meeting last March, Shanghai had applied to the National Development and Reform Commission to build a Disneyland and the best location would be Pudong New Area.

But so far no approval notice has been posted.

Pudong's new governor talked about opportunities and challenges the area is facing at a press conference yesterday when he and his nine deputies, all but one who is on an aid mission in Tibet, meeting the media.

Jiang, deputy secretary-general of Shanghai's Party committee, was elected Pudong governor by Pudong New Area People's Congress together with other vice governors in charge of various fields including administration reform, construction and urban planning.

Born in 1953, Jiang was Party secretary and governor of Changning District after working in a sub-district government under the former Nanshi District, now merged into Huangpu District.

The youngest deputy governor, Peng Song, was born in 1970 and is in charge of planning. Vice Governor Zhang Endi, born in 1960, possesses the highest degree, a PhD in biology from Cambridge University.

He is in charge of the district's education and public health sectors.

All government branches and public servants will be in their new roles to start work by the end of this month, Jiang said.

"A new office building at the intersection of Yanggao Road and Chengshan Road (close to Pudong government buildings in Huamu area) will be finished construction on August 18 to temporarily house government staff members from Nanhui area," he said.

The new government pledged to maintain and strive to fulfill original development goals by achieving Gross Domestic Product of more than 500 billion yuan (US$73.2 billion), a 10 percent annual growth in residents' disposable income, and a 4 percent annual decrease in energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP by 2011.

The urbanization of Nanhui area will be sped up after the merger, Jiang said.

The governor predicted 100 billion yuan would be invested in the area within three years and 100 to 200 billion yuan within five to 10 years.

(Shanghai Daily August 10, 2009)