Lu Yanping says he sees a bright future for Cao'an Commercial City, a large shopping center that is expected to bring commercial prosperity to the city's northwest, and also a more convenient life to the nearby residents.
Located to the south of Jiading District, the commercial center is planned to cover an area of nearly 268,000 square meters, with a construction area of 335,000 square meters. The development project started last June, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2006.
"In the next three years, we have full confidence in building Cao'an into Jiading's Xujiahui," said the executive deputy general manager of Shanghai Cao'an Commercial City Development Co Ltd. "It has such prospects that it will become another highlight of the district, as well as the city."
According to Lu, their confidence is based on the commercial center's own advantages, including the exclusive location, the mature nearby commercial environment and the attentive service that they are willing to offer.
"The center is very close to the downtown area," he said. "It is served as a traffic hub because of the unique location, too."
It is surrounded by various main roads and highways. The Outer-Ring Road connects it to the other parts of the city. On the other hand, highways, such as National Highway 312 and the Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway, make it an important link between the city and neighboring provinces.
Apart from that, the area is also surrounded by some well-known marketplaces that will also become part of the commercial center.
"Last year, the annual commercial revenue of the area turned out to be more than 6 billion yuan (US$723 million)," he said. "It has set up an ideal platform for the area's further development."
In order to attract more investors, the company has set up a subsidiary company especially to provide them with advice and help during the investing procedure.
"We offer not only preferential polices, but also a series of practical services to our investors," he said. "We will try our best to help them solve all kinds of problems that might happen."
Lu said that so far, more than 100 companies have already showed their interest in the area.
Under its development plan, over the next five years, annual sales revenue is expected to reach 13 million yuan (US$1.57 million). By then, it will have created at least 15,000 jobs.