Shanghai Daily news

For the sake of its long-term development, Changning District has decided to use more of its land to develop industrial parks and office buildings instead of luxury villa communities.
In recent years, the district has focused on high-tech, high-value tertiary industries, including information technology, consulting and logistics, to gradually replace real estate's dominant position in its economy.
With that in mind, the district set aside 2.74-square-kilometer of land in the west to create the Shanghai Hongqiao Linkong Economic Zone.
The zone, operated by the district's development and construction office, Shanghai Land Group and Shanghai New Changning (Group) Co Ltd, is going to become the district's office building hub with companies launching their headquarters, sales departments as well as research and development centers.
"As the district's land coverage available for further development has been reduced, we should be especially careful when setting up buildings," said Shen Sa, an official in the zone.
Early in 2002, the zone started to draw up a blueprint in which buildings are set up to accommodate regional headquarters.
The district is hoping companies will be attracted to the zone by its convenient location in the city's west end.
Situated beside the city's Outer Ring Road and Hongqiao International Airport, the industrial zone has taken advantage of its convenient traffic network to attract companies that are looking to relocate their headquarters.
"Nowadays, many companies are planing to cut their costs by relocating their production bases from the city to Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces or even the country's central and western regions," said Chen Zhihua, vice general manager of Shanghai New Changning (Group) Co Ltd, a district government funded company.
"It is easy to replace factory workers, but it is hard to replace management-level employees. Actually, most high-level company members are unwilling to move out of the city."
The district and China Development Bank invested more than 3 billion yuan (US$361 million) to build up infrastructure, such as roads, underground cables and wires, and pipelines, on the isolated land two years ago.
Bungalows and old factories have been demolished and several high-rise office buildings have been built up along the newly paved roads.
Several companies, including Digital China, oa365.com and Unilever China have sighed letters of intent to set up offices in the zone.
Chen and his group have been in talks with three to four other large multinational groups about setting up offices in the zone.
Shanghai hongqiao Linkong Industrial Zone was once a weed covered village. Its industrialization first took place in 1992 when private and state-owned factories shaped up near what used to be the city's only airport.
In 1999, it spent 430 million yuan, the first considerable investment, to pave roads and build up other important infrastructure.